Effects of Time Pressure on Visual Processing and Shooting Accuracy in Skilled Futsal Players

Authors

    Amirhossein Mazaheri Faculty of Sport Sciences and Health, University of Tehran
    Elahe Arabameri * Professor, Faculty of sport science and health, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran eameri@ut.ac.ir
    Morteza Taheri Professor, Faculty of sport science and health, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Keywords:

Futsal, Time Pressure, Visual Behavior, Shooting Accuracy

Abstract

Objective

Time pressure limits perceptual processing and reduces decision-making accuracy, making it a key factor in perceptual–motor performance in sports. This study aimed to investigate how time pressure affects visual behavior and shooting accuracy in skilled futsal players.

Research

The population under consideration in this study consisted of male club-level futsal players who were right-footed and played in a pivot role. The study targeted a total of 24 talented players, aged 20-30 years old, using a purposive sampling technique. The players were allowed a total of 10 shots at a target set before them in different pressure situations. The time pressure situations were set to low (40 seconds), moderate (30 seconds), and high pressure (20 seconds). The players' visual behavior in firing shots at a goal under these pressure situations was recorded using an eye-tracking device. The accuracy of shots fired by players under these situations was measured using a standard Loughborough Soccer Shooting Test. Research analysis employed one-way analysis of variance to compare the different conditions of time pressure, with Bonferroni post hoc tests used to follow up on the ANOVA in pairwise comparisons, setting the significance level at 0.05 using SPSS software.

RESULTS

Analysis of Variance: Results related to fixation duration were found to be significantly affected by time pressure (p < 0.001), while the accuracy of shooting was also significantly affected (p < 0.001). On the other hand, non-significant effects were witnessed for fixation number (p = 0.670) and eye saccade movement (p = 0.976). Pair comparison showed thatwith more time pressure, fixation duration reduces while the accuracy of shooting gets affected drastically.

Conclusion

The above observations have proved that time pressure can be a major negative factor in perceptual-motor performance among skilled futsal players when it affects both visual fixation time and accuracy in shots.

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Published

2026-03-01

Submitted

2025-07-01

Revised

2025-12-01

Accepted

2025-12-10

How to Cite

Mazaheri, A., Arabameri, E., & Taheri, M. (2026). Effects of Time Pressure on Visual Processing and Shooting Accuracy in Skilled Futsal Players. Game Nexus, 3(1), 1-15. https://game-nexus.org/index.php/gamenexus/article/view/25

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