Exploring the mechanisms of target acquisition performance in esports: The role of component kinematic phases on a first person shooter motor skill

When quantifying elements of performance in bimanual tasks, such as surgery or sports, it is important to understand the errors that participants make to facilitate skill improvement. Esports lags behind when quantifying the motor skills that differentiate elites and amateurs. The purpose of this study was to leverage a large existing kinematic dataset to identify whether previously observed differences in end point performance among gamers of varying expertise, across training days within expertise groups and between stimulation conditions resulted from differences in performance during specific phases of target acquisition movements. Specifically, we evaluated the position and velocity of cursor movements to show for the first time the differences in the component phases of target acquisition movements among first person shooter gamers of various expertise and non-gamers. We also established the dose-response of these components to deliberate practice and the effect of neurostimulation on the improvement of these components in each expertise group. Overall, gamers of higher expertise show evidence of superior motor planning and sensory-motor integration and that these qualities can be improved with training. Future work should more closely examine the sub-movements and classify biomechanical movement strategies of target acquisition skills among gamers.