Foraging for Handholds: Attentional Scanning Varies by Expertise in Rock Climbing

Abstract

Efficiency of search often comes with experience. We explored search processes during a highly dynamic and complex task: rock climbing. In general, we found similarities between expert and non-expert climbers regarding their visual search and differences in their tactile search. Analyses determined that experts and non-experts did not differ in their visual fixations toward areas of interest (AOIs), but differed in their mean fixation times depending on the terrain. Experts performed fewer investigative touches than non-experts, suggesting that experts might have climbed faster due to their reliance on visual rather than tactile cues. These findings support the theory of information foraging in a dynamic environment by suggesting that non-experts used tactile search to acquire information rather than relying on visual search.