The in-house development of an automated eye-tracking system in our sensorimotor lab (Kredel et al., 2017; see photo) enabled us to conduct in-depth investigations of mechanisms of visual perception in the context of sensorimotor control (as summarized in Klostermann et al., 2020). An initial research focus was on the “Quiet Eye” (QE) phenomenon, according to which long final fixations before movement start improve performance. In throwing studies, we were not only able to demonstrate a causal relationship between QE duration and performance through experimental QE manipulations (Klostermann et al., 2013), but also to provide empirical evidence supporting our alternative explanation of the “inhibition hypothesis” (Klostermann et al., 2014; Klostermann & Hossner, 2018) by showing that the QE effect becomes negative once the QE duration exceeds about 3 seconds (Klostermann et al., 2018). Furthermore, we have demonstrated for peripheral vision, using the multiple-object-tracking paradigm, that its functionality depends on the viewing angle relative to the target objects (Vater et al., 2017a), on distractors surrounding the target objects (Vater et al., 2017b), and also on initiated eye movements (Vater et al., 2020). Finally, in a study on gaze strategies in ballet (see video), we demonstrated that the spotting technique is helpful in preventing dizziness during multiple turns (Schärli et al., 2024).
