Eye tracking in high-performance sports: Evaluation of its application in expert athletes

Abstract

Abstract In the last thirty years, an increasing interest in sport sciences regarding the analysis of expert athletes’ gaze behavior has become apparent. This narrative review provides an overview of the use of eye tracking systems in high-performance sports from 1987 to 2016. A systematic search of the PubMed, Scopus, SPORTDiscus, and WebofScience databases was conducted. The search was performed using the keywords eye tracking, eye movement, gaze behavior/patterns, and visual search strategies in combination with high-performance sports, elite athletes, high-class athletes, sport experts, and top-athletes. It yielded a total of 86 studies of which almost half were conducted computer-based or in front of a screen. Most studies dealt with the analysis of gaze behavior during dead ball situations while also focusing on differences between expert athletes and novices. More high-quality intervention studies are essential to determine if there are ideal gaze strategies and, if yes, how it is possible to learn/implement these.