Short Communication: The Role of Different Body-Related Visual Cues in Synchronized Trampolining

Visual information is thought to be a dominant information source when performing whole-body movements in gymnastics. Visual information can furthermore facilitate performance when being engaged in situations of interpersonal coordination that may occur in sports such as synchronized trampolining. The question arises, which body-related visual cues are most important in the emergence of behavioral synchronization between two gymnasts in synchronized trampolining? To address this question, advanced gymnasts were asked to synchronize their performance to video-sequences of a model gymnast, while body-related visual cues of the model gymnast were systematically manipulated. Results revealed, first that biological motion cues are more important than nonbiological motion cues, and second that the perceived motion of the arms seems to drive synchronicity in synchronized trampolining. It is stated, that biological visual information of the arms is a dominant visual information source when performing leaps in synchronized trampolining.