Distinct profiles of multisensory processing between professional goalkeepers and outfield football players

Abstract

In association football (soccer), the position of goalkeeper is the most specialised position in the sport and has the primary objective of stopping the opposing team from scoring. While previous studies have highlighted differences in physiological and match performance profiles between goalkeepers and outfield players¹, surprisingly little research has focused on whether goalkeepers differ in terms of their perceptual-cognitive abilities. Given that goalkeepers use multiple sensory cues and are often required to make rapid decisions based on incomplete multisensory information to fulfil their role², we hypothesised that professional goalkeepers would display enhanced multisensory temporal processing relative to their outfield counterparts. To test this hypothesis, we measured the temporal binding windows - the time window within which signals from the different senses are integrated into a single percept - of professional goalkeepers, professional outfield players, and a control group with no professional football experience using the sound-induced flash illusion³. Our results indicated a marked difference in multisensory processing between the three groups. Specifically, we found that the goalkeepers displayed a narrower temporal binding window relative to both outfielders and control participants, indicating more precise audiovisual timing estimation. However, this enhanced multisensory temporal processing was accompanied by a general reduction in crossmodal interactions relative to the other two groups that could be attributed to an a priori tendency to segregate sensory signals. We propose that these differences stem from the idiosyncratic nature of the goalkeeping position that puts a premium on the ability of goalkeepers to make quick decisions, often based on partial or incomplete sensory information.