I Don’t Believe My Eyes

I Don’t Believe My Eyes

Garrett Lucash, RFS, RM

In this article, I will present the role vision plays in motor learning and share some ideas coaches can consider for use in their off-ice programs. Please note that safety should always be of paramount concern and coaches must consider each athlete and their environment when implementing new ideas.

Vision plays a sensory role in motor skill learning and performance (R. Schmidt & Lee, 2019). Balance and orientation involve the integration of inputs from many body subsystems, including vision (Woollacott & Shumway- Cook, 1996). Our vision detects a flow of images called the optic flow field (Lee, 1980). The optic flow field is analyzed through subconscious processes and particular visual patterns are linked to specific movement patterns (R. A. Schmidt & Lee, 2005). This means that when an athlete performs a single Axel, what they ‘see’ integrates with what they ‘feel’.

Visual information is so powerful, it tends to dominate, even control, other sensory information such as balance and touch (Magill, 2011).

Two classic experiments demonstrate this dominance. The first, called the ‘moving room experiment’, involved a square room with walls that could be moved forward and backward by the experimenter (Lee & Aronson, 1974). When placed in the room, children would tip forward or backward depending on which way the walls were manipulated. They made postural adjustments despite the fact that the floor remained stable. The visual illusion that the room was tilting dominated other sensory cues. In another experiment, participants were asked to sit at a table with one arm hidden out of sight (R. Schmidt & Lee, 2019). Experimenters placed a plastic hand on the table and brushed the plastic hand at the same time they brushed the participants’ hidden hand. After several repetitions, the experimenters brushed only the plastic hand and the participants still felt sensations in their own hand even though it was not being touched. The visual information tricked them into perceiving their own hands were still being brushed.

We can also think of countless other illusions that trick our eyes. Motion odyssey rides and amusement park attractions take advantage of the dominating role vision plays in proprioception. A motion odyssey ride is a mechanical platform that mimics the feeling of sitting in a moving vehicle such as a spaceship or rollercoaster with a first-person perspective video playing on a large screen. The ‘ride’ moves minimally in all directions. However, movements are greatly amplified through exciting video that is played on a large screen. The optic flow feedback from the video gives participants the feeling that they are moving much faster.

It may not be surprising then, that vision plays a dominating role during learning and performance (Magill, 2011). If vision is available during learning, then it will continue to dominate performance even as the learner masters the skill. If vision is subsequently removed (e.g. by a blindfold), performance may suffer because the sensory information is not compatible with previous experiences. Thus, overemphasizing vision during practice may facilitate initial performance, but can hinder learning. However, de-emphasizing vision, though it may hinder initial performance, has shown to facilitate later performance later on (R. Schmidt & Lee, 2019).

Many ballet studios and gyms have mirrors, at least on one wall. Dancers and power-lifters use the mirrors for feedback to make sure their movements are aesthetic and also technically correct. However, studies show that the longer one uses mirrors for corrective feedback, the more they depend on the mirrors to perform (Magill, 2011). Here is a recollection from a former New York City Ballet principle dancer, Allegra Kent, who initially learned a choreographed piece in front of mirrors: “After joining New York City Ballet at age 15, my first assignment was to dance in the corps de ballet of the second movement of Balanchine’s Symphony in C. I had never performed onstage at all. I had three sessions to learn the steps in a room with a mirror and one rehearsal for placement onstage. During the performance, the bewildering dark fog of City Center and the glaring stage lights were disconcerting: I felt off-balance. My theatrical innocence was detrimental. I couldn’t place myself in this foreign territory. Later, I discovered the kindness of the stage—the mirror wasn’t there (Kent, 2011).”

In some motor learning studies, researchers will blindfold study participants to observe the role vision plays with learning a new skill (Magill, 2011). The studies show that when vision is distorted or blocked by a blindfold, performance suffers. For example, when gymnasts walk on a balance beam, in a handstand position, or even in a straight line across the floor mat with blocked vision, performance deteriorates. The athlete must rely on other sensory information that had previously not been trained or integrated into performance.

This notion—of removing vision to strengthen an athlete’s balance and orientation—could make for a very useful training method, if done safely.

According to Verkhoshansky (2009), through the use of blindfolds, “the athlete remembers joint angles, the degree of muscular tension, the amplitude of movement and movement patterns best with the eyes closed and reproduces them more easily.” When the eyes are open later on, the motor sensitivity remains and the athlete can potentially detect errors more easily. The blindfolded athlete learns to detect other proprioceptive sources of information, such as body extension and lean.

This certainly does not mean we should have our students train blindfolded on the ice. The dangers are obvious. However, some creative exercises can be incorporated into off-ice training and I have used them to great success in recent years. For example, the coach can create their own ‘moving room’ conditions through which their athletes must hold static positions such as jump landings or spirals. I’ll stand in front of one athlete at a time and sway from side to side as they hold the landing position. Amazingly, this throws them off and you see them immediately start to struggle to keep balance! After a few weeks, the effect goes away because the athlete learns to connect to other sensory information to maintain balance. Sometimes I ask my skaters to close their eyes when holding positions as well. First, I make sure they are spaced out and the room is safe. Then I ask them to hold a landing position. Finally, I ask them to close their eyes for a set period of time. My skaters like to make a competition out of it to see who can hold a position the longest with their eyes closed. I suggest mixing in these types of strategies every few weeks in off-ice class to develop your athletes’ sensory abilities.

References

Kent, A. (2011, November). The Mirror Mystique. Dance Magazine.

Lee, D. N. (1980). The Optic Flow Field: The Foundation of Vision. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, Biological Sciences, 290(1038), 169-178.

Lee, D. N., & Aronson, E. (1974). Visual proprioceptive control of standing in human infants. Perception and Psychophysics, 15, 529-532.

Magill, R. A. (2011). Motor Learning and Control: Concepts and Applications (Ninth ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Schmidt, R., & Lee, T. (2019). Motor Learning and Performance 6th Edition with Web Study Guide-Loose-Leaf Edition: From Principles to Application: Human Kinetics Publishers.

Schmidt, R. A., & Lee, T. D. (2005). Motor Control and Learning. A Behavioral Emphasis. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Verkhoshansky, Y. (2009). Supertraining.

Woollacott, M. H., & Shumway-Cook, A. (1996). Concepts and Methods for Assessing Postural Instability. Journal of Aging and Physical Activity, 4, 214-233.