The Effect of Quiet Eyes Training on the Improvement of the Performance of the Novice Military Shooters- Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Quiet eye is a technique reported to improve outcomes in various tasks requiring human visual attention. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of quiet eye training on improving the performance of novice military shooters. This randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted on 30 undergraduate military science students aged 18 to 23 years who were studying in of 2016‒17. They were selected from a military university and were randomized to one of two groups of control and intervention. The intervention group received quiet eye training for six weeks, along with shooting training (two sessions per week). The control group participated only in shooting training during this period. The SCATT system was used to evaluate the shooter's performance pre- and post-test. The mean±SD age of the 30 novice military shooters included in the study was 19.8±4.7 years for the control group and 20.12±7.02 years for the intervention group. The mean±SD shooting background (history) was 8.54±6.82 months for the control group and 7.93±4.35 months for the intervention group. The eye training intervention was effective in improving the shooters’ performance and its sub-components of (p<0.05). There was a significant difference between control and intervention group in the earned score (F=46.53, P=0.01), the average aiming point fluctuations (F=26.62, P=0.02), the horizontal aiming point fluctuations (F=7.07, P=0.01), and the vertical aiming point fluctuations (F=76.21, P=0.01). The quiet eye training program is an appropriate method to improve performance level of novice military shooters. Therefore, in order to improve the level of perceptual-cognitive readiness and processes performance of the shooters, it is necessary to provide the quiet eye training program to military shooters.