Mental Rotation of Tactic Board Instructions in Basketball: Domain-Specific Expertise Improves On-Court Performance

Purpose: In basketball, tactical instructions are presented on tactic boards under temporal constraints (e.g., time-outs). Based on the disparity in the orientation of the tactic board and the players' egocentric on-court visual perspective, there are high affordances in visual-spatial transformation (e.g., mental rotation), which impede information processing and decrease execution accuracy. The aim of this study was to scrutinize how the effect of different orientations of visual tactical displays on information processing demands and execution accuracy is affected by expertise in basketball. Methods: In a mixed-factors-design with two factors, 48 participants were assigned to a group of experienced basketball players (n = 24) and novices (n = 24). They were instructed to execute basketball playing patterns, which were presented on a virtual tactic board in five different spatial disparities to the players' on-court perspective. Results: The self-controlled time for watching the instructions before execution was significantly shorter and spatial accuracy in pattern execution was significantly higher for lower disparities between instruction perspective and on-court perspective. Experienced basketball players displayed shorter observation times as well as higher accuracy as a global effect, being independent of stimulus orientation. Moreover, the effect of orientation on observation times was lower in the experienced group as compared to the novices. Conclusion: Extensive experience over several years with visuo-spatial transformations of tactical instructions reduced, but not eliminated, the effects of model-observer disparity. Accordingly, coaches should align their tactic boards to their players' on-court viewing perspective to enable fast processing and errorless execution of tactical instructions.