Journal
HUMAN MOVEMENT SCIENCE
Volume 29, Issue 3, Pages 386-400Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.humov.2010.02.007
Keywords
Myopia; Sport; Visual acuity; Contact lenses; Cricket
Funding
- Cricket Australia Sport Science Sport Medicine Research Program
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The impact of refractive visual blur on interceptive skill was examined for a series of highly-demanding striking tasks. Ten skilled cricket batsmen were required to intercept balls projected by either a ball projection-machine (medium-pace only) or cricket bowlers (two velocities; medium-pace and fast-pace) under each of four systematically varied visual conditions. Contact lenses were fitted to simulate increments in refractive blur (habitual, +1.00, +2.00, +3.00 D), with changes in interceptive performance evaluated on three concurrent measures of performance relevant to cricket batting (quality of bat-ball contact, forcefulness of bat-swing, and likelihood of dismissal). For the projection-machine condition, results replicate those reported previously (Mann, Ho, De Souza, Watson, & Taylor, 2007) with blur needing to reach +3.00 D before any significant decreases in performance were evident, a finding further replicated when facing bowlers of comparable velocity. The influence of blur on interception was found to interact with ball-velocity, with the increased temporal demands of fast-paced trials resulting in decreased performance becoming evident at a lower level of blur (+2.00 D). The findings demonstrate that even when presented with a situation replicating highly-demanding performance conditions, substantial degradation of visual clarity is possible before acuity is a limiting factor for interceptive performance. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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