The level of informational dependence between gaze behaviors in decision-making on shooting throughout a futsal game

Purpose: This study investigated whether gaze fixation behaviors during shooting situations influence subsequent visual behaviors throughout a futsal game. Methods: A total of thirty shots from seven futsal players who wore an unobtrusive eye tracking device during matches of futsal were analyzed using the Kinovea software. The visual information were analyzed from the moment a teammate passed the ball to the shooter (initial moment) until the moment the shot was performed (final moment). The analyses employed normalized mutual information (NMI). Results: The results showed that the NMI values were close to zero, suggesting minimal dependence between gaze fixation behaviors in consecutive shots. Discussion and Conclusions: These findings indicate significant variability in players' gaze fixation behaviors during shooting situations, which may reflect their adaptive responses to the game's dynamic conditions. The identification of multiple gaze fixation patterns among players suggests that different strategies may be employed to optimize performance in response to varying game contexts, offering new insights into the role of visual information in futsal.