Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 26, 2025
Evaluating Flight Performance and Eye Movement Patterns Using Virtual Reality Flight Simulator
Published on: May 19, 2023
Comparison of Visual Search Behavior and Decision-making Accuracy in Expert and Novice Fencing Referees
Niloufar Babadi Aghakhanpour1, Behrouz Abdoli, Alireza Farsi1
1Department of Cognitive and Behavioral Science and Technology in Sport, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.
Significance:
Perceptual-cognitive skills are the capacity of athletes to identify task-relevant information in the environment and integrate information with the knowledge available for decision making or controlling motor responses. Gaze behavior is one performance-related perceptual skill and a key factor affecting expertise affecting referee performance.
Purpose:
The aim of this study was to compare visual search behavior and decision-making accuracy of expert and novice fencing referees.
Method:
Twenty-eight referees were divided into expert (n = 14) and novice (n = 14) groups. Participants were fitted with mobile eye trackers and participated in tests that consisted of five blocks of 10 video clips. Videos are provided annually by the World Fencing Federation for referee testing.
Results:
The results showed a significant difference between the two groups in terms of the accuracy of decision making, number, duration, and location of fixations. Expert referees had higher decision-making accuracy compared with novice referees. Expert referees had fewer fixations than did novice referees. Fixations of expert referees were longer than those of novice referees, and the locations of fixations of expert and novice referees were different.
Conclusions:
According to the results of this study, it can be concluded that the difference in visual search behavior of expert and novice referees was one of the factors contributing to better decision making of expert referees.
