Eye-Tracking Technology and the Dynamics of Natural Gaze Behavior in Sports: A Systematic Review of 40 Years of Research

Reviewing 60 studies on natural gaze behavior in sports, it becomes clear that, over the last 40 years, the use of eye-tracking devices has considerably increased. Specifically, this review reveals the large variance of methods applied, analyses performed, and measures derived within the field. The results of sub-sample analyses suggest that sports-related eye-tracking research strives, on the one hand, for ecologically valid test settings (i.e., viewing conditions and response modes), while on the other, for experimental control along with high measurement accuracy (i.e., controlled test conditions with high-frequency eye-trackers linked to algorithmic analyses). To meet both demands, some promising compromises of methodological solutions have been proposed—in particular, the integration of robust mobile eye-trackers in motion-capture systems. However, as the fundamental trade-off between laboratory and field research cannot be solved by technological means, researchers need to carefully weigh the arguments for one or the other approach by accounting for the respective consequences. Nevertheless, for future research on dynamic gaze behavior in sports, further development of the current mobile eye-tracking methodology seems highly advisable to allow for the acquisition and algorithmic analyses of larger amounts of gaze-data and further, to increase the explanatory power of the derived results.