Study on the relationship between fixation characteristics and hit rate in psychological procedure training of free throw

PLoS One. 2024 May 9;19(5):e0293436. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0293436. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Background: Free throw is an important means of scoring in basketball games. With the improvement of basketball competition level and the enhancement of confrontation degree, the number of free throws in the game gradually increases, so the score of free throw will have an important impact on the result of the game. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between visual attention characteristics and hit rate of basketball players in free throw psychological procedure training, so as to provide scientific basis for basketball teaching and training.

Methods: Forty players with similar free throw abilities were randomly assigned to the experimental group (10 males, 10 females) and control group (10 males, 10 females). The experimental group was free throw psychological procedure training, while the control group was trained with routine training, Eye movement indices (number of fixations, fixation duration, and pupil dilation) and the free throw hit rate and analyzed before and after the experiment. Group differences were examined using t-tests, while paired sample t-tests were conducted to compare pre- and post-test results within each group. The training time and training times of the two groups were the same.

Results: There were significant differences in fixation duration, number of fixations, pupil diameter and free throw hit rate between pre-test and post-test in the experimental group (P < 0.05). Post-test, there were significant differences in number of fixations, fixation duration, pupil diameter and free throw hit rate between the two groups (P < 0.05). There was a significant positive correlation between number of fixations and free throw hit rate in top (P < 0.01), and there was a significant positive correlation between fixation duration and hit rate in front (P < 0.01).

Conclusions: The psychological procedure training can improve the visual information search strategy and information processing ability of free throw, and significantly improve the free throw hit rate. There was a positive correlation between the front fixation time and the free throw hit rate, and there was a positive correlation between the top number of fixations and the free throw hit rate.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Randomized Controlled Trial

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Athletic Performance / physiology
  • Athletic Performance / psychology
  • Attention / physiology
  • Basketball* / psychology
  • Eye Movements / physiology
  • Female
  • Fixation, Ocular* / physiology
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

13th Five-Year” Plan of the National Social Science Foundation of China, No. BLA160070, Sun nan Li Humanities and Social Science Fund of Ministry of Education of China, No. 22BTY055, Sun nan Li The funders played no role in the design of the study, collection and analysis of data, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.