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- Title
Constraining of peripheral vision reduces standing long jump performance in children.
- Authors
MATOS, RUI; CRUZ, JOÃO; AMARO, NUNO; COELHO, LUÍS; MOROUÇO, PEDRO; REBELO-GONÇALVES, RICARDO
- Abstract
Peripheral vision appears to be more important than central vision for tasks where precision or ocular coordination are essential. To determine whether this effect is observed while performing a task for which precision is not critical, the performance of 34 children (6-9 years old) in standing long jump was tested. Adapted swimming goggles, which induced different levels of constraint of field of vision, were used to provide full field vision, restrict the use of central vision, and restrict the use of peripheral vision. The obtained results showed a strong detrimental effect on standing horizontal jump length (both best and mean results) when the peripheral field of vision was restricted (approximately 5% less; p < 0.001). However, the detrimental effect was not observed when only the central field of vision was absent. These results indicate that peripheral vision is essential for this locomotor task. Although standing long jump can be considered as a non-precision task, the children tested were able to jump farther both when vision was not restricted and when peripheral vision was allowed. A reasonable explanation is that the absence of access to optic flow detection inhibits normal motor behaviour perhaps owing to worse posture and stability. The obtained results suggest that information that arrives through peripheral vision is more important for jumping performance than information from central vision. Furthermore, jumping biomechanics may be more hampered by the absence of these peripheral stimuli than by the impossibility of gazing straight in the jumping direction. Thus, it is reasonable to conclude that special attention should be paid to the use of peripheral vision in physical activity tasks.
- Subjects
PERIPHERAL vision; VISUAL field measurement; ATHLETIC ability; STANDING long jump; SWIMMING for children; CHILD athletes; PHYSIOLOGICAL effects of swimming
- Publication
Journal of Physical Education & Sport, 2020, Vol 20, Issue 4, p1762
- ISSN
2247-8051
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.7752/jpes.2020.04239