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Performance of clay pigeon shooters in multiple object tracking under different target loads: skill level and gender
Kai Jin1, Pingze Gao1,2, Xupeng Zhang3
1Department of Physical Education, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
Objective:
To examine the effect of target load on the multiple object tracking performance of clay pigeon shooters, and to investigate differences in skill level (professional vs. amateur) and gender in this context. The attentional patterns in clay pigeon shooting differ fundamentally from those in ball sports. It remains unclear whether expert advantages exist in multiple object tracking among clay pigeon shooters, and whether long-term training can eliminate gender-based cognitive differences.
Methods:
Forty clay pigeon shooters (20 professionals, 20 amateurs; 20 males, 20 females) completed a multiple object tracking task with target loads of 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. The dependent variable was tracking accuracy. A 2 (group) × 5 (target load) repeated-measures ANOVA was conducted, followed by simple effects analysis. Gender differences were examined using a separate 2 (gender) × 5 (target load) ANOVA.
Results:
Tracking accuracy decreased as target load increased (main effect of target load: ηp 2 = 0.793). No differences were found between professional and amateur shooters when tracking 2 or 3 targets. However, under target loads of 4, 5, and 6, professionals showed higher tracking accuracy than amateurs (group × target load interaction: ηp 2 = 0.095; simple effects: p = 0.003, 0.005, and 0.014, respectively). No differences were observed between male and female athletes under any target load condition (main effect of gender: ηp 2 = 0.055, p = 0.145; gender × target load interaction: ηp 2 = 0.024, p = 0.431).
Conclusion:
Clay pigeon shooters exhibit an expert advantage under high target loads in multiple object tracking tasks. This advantage may reflect domain-general cognitive resources such as working memory updating, attentional reorienting, and inhibitory control, rather than sport-specific multiple-object attentional capacity. No performance differences were observed between male and female athletes, suggesting that long-term intensive training may eliminate the gender gap in spatial attention commonly found in the general population. High-load multiple object tracking tasks may serve as a cognitive diagnostic tool for athlete selection in clay pigeon shooting.
