Gazing into space: eye movements and discrimination of marginally off-center goalkeepers

Abstract

Masters, van der Kamp, and Jackson (2007) showed that even when a goalkeeper created a space difference as small as 0.5% (? in space between the two sides/total space x 100) when standing in a goal-mouth, penalty-takers could discriminate which side had more space at reliably above chance levels, despite believing that they were guessing. Additionally, at differences of up to approximately 3.0%, penalty-takers directed more kicks to the side with more space without being conscious that the goalkeeper was standing marginally off-center. Remarkably, despite the many factors that can influence penalty-kick direction in the real world, examination of video clips of penalties taken during international competitions (e.g., the World Cup) showed that when goalkeepers stood marginally off-center (mean 2.9%), penalty-takers directed kicks to the side with more space more than would be expected by chance. The interaction between awareness and gaze during discrimination of marginal space differences has not been investigated. In two experiments, we assessed patterns of gaze behavior when participants were required to discriminate marginal differences in the space on either side of a goalkeeper. In both experiments, participants were able to detect differences as low as 0.3-0.4% at above chance levels, despite reporting that their decisions were guessed; however, uniform patterns of gaze were only present when participants became confident that they were not guessing. We show, for the first time, that accurate discrimination of marginal differences in space that are registered below consciousness and without differentiated gaze behavior, can be exploited by decision-makers during penalty-taking.