ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1700617
This article is part of the Research TopicWinning by Design: Technology-Integrated Learning, Performance, and Recovery in Team SportsView all articles
Research on Visual Search Strategies During Apparatus Throw-and-Catch in Group Rhythmic Gymnastics
Provisionally accepted
- 1Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China
- 2Nanjing Sport Institute, Nanjing, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Objective: This study aimed to investigate the visual search characteristics and strategies of expert rhythmic gymnasts during apparatus throw-and-catch tasks under different apparatus types and difficulty levels, in order to provide theoretical support for optimizing routine choreography and designing effective visual training programs. Methods: Fifteen rhythmic gymnasts at or above the national first-class level were recruited. Tobii Pro Glasses 3 wearable eye tracker was used to collect eye movement data during four throw-and-catch tasks of varying difficulty levels (Hoop 1–3, Ball 4). Global eye movement metrics (total duration of whole fixations, number of whole fixations, number of saccades) and area of interest (AOI) indicators (total duration of fixation, total duration of visit, total duration of glances, etc.) were analyzed using Kruskal–Wallis tests and Bonferroni-corrected post-hoc comparisons. Results: As task difficulty increased, athletes showed significantly longer total fixation duration, more fixation points, and more saccades (p < 0.001, η² = 0.105); Under the same difficulty level, hoop-related tasks imposed a higher visual search load compared to ball tasks (p < 0.05); AOI analysis indicated significantly greater visual attention during the catching phase than the throwing phase. In high-difficulty conditions, athletes demonstrated more efficient visual strategies, such as shorter fixation times and reduced saccade paths. Conclusion: Expert rhythmic gymnasts actively adjust their visual strategies based on task complexity and apparatus characteristics, showing goal-oriented behaviors and evidence of experience transfer. Visual search efficiency is jointly influenced by movement difficulty and apparatus type. It is recommended that future training incorporates task-specific visual training programs to enhance throw-and-catch success rates and overall performance.
Keywords: Rhythmic gymnastics, visual search, Eye-tracking, Apparatus exchange, Apparatusdifficulty
Received: 07 Sep 2025; Accepted: 22 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhou, Cai, Kai, Zhang and Tang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yujun Cai, caiyujun@sus.edu.cn
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.