Catching and Spatially Locating a Ball in Flight: Variables Underlying Their Development

Two experiments assessed relative contributions of stereo-acuity, simple reaction time, chronological age, and experience in ball sports to the development of catching as measured by actually catching a ball and a spatial matching task. The spatial matching task was designed to tap underlying perceptual requirements in catching by reducing motor requirements of the task. In Exp. 1 the contribution of each factor was assessed in boys aged 8 to …