Interactive Video Training of Perceptual Decision-Making in the Sport of Baseball
Peter J. Fadde
This study builds on a body of research in sports science that has used video as a means of measuring and training perceptual and decision-making skills in a variety of sports. Expert-novice studies using a video occlusion method have shown that expert athletes are able to make better and earlier recognition of an opponent’s action, such as a baseball pitch, priming a rapid response. Training using video occlusion targets the time frame, measured in less than one-half second, which is associated with expert perception and decision-making. This is the first such study to measure transfer of video training to game performance. Video training in pitch recognition was associated with significantly better batting averages for college baseball players, as measured by rank correlation. The part-task approach has implications for training expert perceptual decision-making in other sports and in areas beyond sports, such as emergency response, vehicle operation, and use-of-force training.