Perceptual uncertainty and line-call challenges in professional tennis.

Proceedings. Biological Sciences
George Mather

Abstract

Fast-moving sports such as tennis require both players and match officials to make rapid accurate perceptual decisions about dynamic events in the visual world. Disagreements arise regularly, leading to disputes about decisions such as line calls. A number of factors must contribute to these disputes, including lapses in concentration, bias and gamesmanship. Fundamental uncertainty or variability in the sensory information supporting decisions must also play a role. Modern technological innovations now provide detailed and accurate physical information that can be compared against the decisions of players and officials. The present paper uses this psychophysical data to assess the significance of perceptual limitations as a contributor to real-world decisions in professional tennis. A detailed analysis is presented of a large body of data on line-call challenges in professional tennis tournaments over the last 2 years. Results reveal that the vast majority of challenges can be explained in a direct highly predictable manner by a simple model of uncertainty in perceptual information processing. Both players and line judges are remarkably accurate at judging ball bounce position, with a positional uncertainty of less than 40mm. L...Continue Reading

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Citations

Mar 17, 2010·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Stephen M FlemingRaymond J Dolan
Oct 30, 2008·Current Biology : CB·David WhitneyElizabeth Louie
Sep 22, 2016·SpringerPlus·Otto Kolbinger, Daniel Link
Dec 21, 2017·Frontiers in Psychology·Florian LoffingNorbert Hagemann

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