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**Benson Thesis 2024.pdf (2.32 MB)

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Abstract Header

Ball-flight viewing duration and estimates of passing height in baseball

Benson, Emily
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu171339062470736

Abstract Details

2024, Master of Science, Ohio State University, Vision Science.
The task of predicting the vertical location of an object when it arrives to an observer may be based on a combination of visual ball-flight cues and internal models of projectile motion, incorporating gravity, advance cues, and kinematic cues associated with a thrower’s motion. The time required to efficiently process these visual cues to predict the ball’s trajectory is unknown. The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether viewing an approaching ball for a longer period of time can improve estimates of the passing height of this ball when only visual cues from ball-flight are provided. A second goal was to determine whether heuristic information predominates over visual cues to object trajectory in estimating the passing height of approaching objects, and whether heuristic information is more likely to be used early in the ball’s flight. Twenty subjects (12 males and 8 females, mean age 23.7±1.69) who had played baseball or softball at the high school level or above within the past 10 years participated. Subjects stood 40 feet from a pneumatic pitching machine that propelled tennis balls toward them at 3 speeds (76mph, 61mph, and 52mph). The subjects’ vision was blocked with occluding spectacles at 100ms (duration 1) or 250ms (duration 2) after pitch release. Each combination of speed and viewing duration was randomly used 10 times. Subjects then indicated on a 2-meter ruler the height they expected the ball to arrive had they been able to view the entire duration of the ball’s trajectory. The balls arrived at heights of about 99cm (fast speed), 59cm (medium speed), and 21cm (slow speed). The mean height responses at the fastest speed were 109cm (duration 1) and 100cm (duration 2). At the medium speed the mean responses were 98cm (duration 1) and 80cm (duration 2). At the slowest speed the mean responses were 88cm (duration 1) and 65cm (duration 2). Paired t-tests between the mean responses for the two viewing durations at each speed all showed significant differences (p<0.001). The mean response at duration 2 was closer to the correct response for all pitch speeds, although t-tests comparing the mean responses at each combination of speed and viewing duration to the expected or correct response demonstrated significant differences (p<0.001) (mean response too high) at all combinations except for the combination of fastest speed and longer viewing duration (p=0.71). Mean vertical passing height estimates were closer to the correct response at all speeds with the longer (250ms) viewing time. However, the mean responses were significantly different from the correct responses except for the combination of fastest speed and longest viewing duration. While the longer duration improved predictions, it did not result in accurate responses for the medium and slow speeds. These data suggest that in the absence of advance cues and launch angle cues, visual ball-flight cues including the speed of the pitched ball and subtle differences in vertical retinal image velocity and time to collision cues may positively influence predictions of the passing height of pitched balls, and that this influence is greater at longer exposure durations. However, heuristics may dominate over ball-flight cues under the conditions of this experiment.
Nicklaus Fogt, OD, PhD (Advisor)
Andrew Toole, OD, PhD (Advisor)
Jennifer Fogt, OD, MS (Committee Member)
Teng Leng Ooi, PhD (Committee Member)
59 p.
Optics; Sports Medicine
baseball; projectile; projectile motion; pitch; trajectory; heuristics; ball-flight; kinematic cues; sports science; sports vision; optometry; vision science

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Benson, E. (2024). Ball-flight viewing duration and estimates of passing height in baseball [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu171339062470736

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Benson, Emily. Ball-flight viewing duration and estimates of passing height in baseball. 2024. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu171339062470736.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Benson, Emily. "Ball-flight viewing duration and estimates of passing height in baseball." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2024. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu171339062470736

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu171339062470736
47
© 2024, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.