Quiet eye training improves accuracy in basketball field goal shooting

University students (N = 240) were randomly assigned to a quiet eye training (QET) or technical training (TT) group, and their shooting accuracy (%) determined during a pre-, post-, and transfer test in basketball field shooting. Both groups first received lectures on visuomotor processing and the quiet eye (QE), followed by a laboratory in which participants in the QET group were taught how to adopt the QE characteristics of elite free-throw shooters, which stresses optimal gaze control and focus relative to a single target location, while the TT participants were taught elite biomechanics which stresses optimal control of the shooting stance, arms, and hands. Overall, the QET group's accuracy was significantly higher than the TT group, but differences were found due to skill level and defensive pressure. From pre to post, the accuracy of the QET novices increased significantly compared to the TT novices, but declined during transfer. Both the QET and TT intermediates had relatively high accuracy scores during the pre- and posttests, which then declined, as expected, during the transfer test against defensive pressure. However, during transfer the QET group's accuracy remained higher than the TT group and was surprisingly similar to that found in elite competition. It is recommended that novice and intermediate basketball players be taught how to adopt the QE of elite players, rather than learning only the technical/mechanical aspects of shooting. Theoretically, the study is placed within the context of top-down "cognitive control," as proposed by Cavanagh and Frank (2014), and QET studies which show that when learners are taught how to adopt the QE of elite performers, this appears to contribute to a more optimal organization of the neural networks underlying control of the task which, in turn, leads to improved shooting performance.