Interactive Video Training of Perceptual Decision-Making in the Sport of Baseball

This study builds on a body of research in sports science that has used video as a means of measuring and training perceptual and decision-making skills in a variety of sports. Expert-novice studies using a video occlusion method have shown that expert athletes are able to make bet-ter and earlier recognition of an opponent’s action, such as a baseball pitch, priming a rapid response. Training using video occlusion targets the time frame, measured in less than one-half second, which is associ-ated with expert perception and decision-making. This is the first such study to measure transfer of video training to game performance. Video training in pitch recognition was associated with significantly better bat-ting averages for college baseball players, as measured by rank correla-tion. The part-task approach has implications for training expert percep-tual decision-making in other sports and in areas beyond sports, such as emergency response, vehicle operation, and use-of-force training