# Gaze Behavior and Positioning of Referee Teams during Three-Point Shots in Basketball
## 3 Results
### Gaze at the Areas of Interest  
For the distribution of gaze fixations at the areas of interest (ball, basket, players, referees, shooter), additional shots had to be excluded, resulting in 52 shots being analyzed for each position (nearby: \(n=72\); far away: \(n=84\)). Figure 4 shows the relative distribution of the referees' fixations of the areas of interest as a function of (a) time, (b) the role, and (c) relation to the ball. Figure 4: Mean distribution (and standard errors) of fixations of the areas of interest for all referees as a function of (**a**) time, (**b**) the role, and (**c**) relation to the ball. A 3 (Role: Lead, Center, Trail) \(\times\) 2 (Relation to the ball: nearby, far away) \(\times\) 3 (Time: phase 1, phase 2, phase 3) was conducted with fixation times towards the different areas of interest as dependent variables. Multivariate analyses showed a main effect of _role_, \(V\) = 0.344; \(F(18,286)\) = 3.30, \(p\) \(<\) 0.001, _[PERSON]'s f_ = 0.368, relation to the ball, \(V\) = 0.161; \(F(9,142)\) = 3.03, \(p\) = 0.002, _[PERSON]'s f_ = 0.347, and time, \(V\) = 0.764; \(F(18,133)\) = 23.86, \(p\) \(<\) 0.001, _[PERSON]'s f_ = 1.645. Interactions between time and role, \(V\) = 0.522; \(F(36,268)\) = 2.63, \(p\) \(<\) 0.001, _[PERSON]'s f_ = 0.439, and between time and relation to the ball, \(V\) = 0.225; \(F(18,133)\) = 2.15, \(p\) = 0.007, _[PERSON]'s f_ = 0.369, showed significant effects, too. Interactions between relation to the ball and role, \(V\) = 0.081; \(F(18,286)\) = 0.67, \(p\) = 0.84, as well as between time*role+relation to the ball, \(V\) = 0.184; \(F(36,268)\) = 0.75, \(p\) = 0.85, were not significant. Subsequent univariate analyses of variance showed that the referees' role had an influence on the gaze at the basket, \(F(2,150)\) = 17.52, \(p\) \(<\) 0.001, _[PERSON]'s f_ = 0.464, the offense \(F(2,150)\) = 4.29, \(p\) = 0.015, _[PERSON]'s f_ = 0.207, and the zone, \(F(2,150)\) = 4.89, \(p\) = 0.009, _[PERSON]'s f_ = 0.225. Post-hoc pairwise comparison showed that the Lead referee looked at the basket (\(M\) = 4.59, \(SD\) = 13.85, \(p\) \(<\) 0.001) less often than the Center (\(M\) = 18.45, \(SD\) = 13.85) and the Trail referee (\(M\) = 18.75, \(SD\) = 14.28). In addition, fixation times at the zone were higher for the Lead referee (\(M\) = 12.96, \(SD\) = 13.85) compared to the Center (\(M\) = 5.26, \(SD\) = 13.85, \(p\) = 0.016) and the Trail referee (\(M\) = 5.90, \(SD\) = 14.28, \(p\) = 0.035). Furthermore, offensive players were looked at longer (\(p\) = 0.025) by the Lead referee (\(M\) = 25.903, \(SD\) = 26.75) compared to the Trail referee (\(M\) = 11.67, \(SD\) = 27.62). Univariate analyses of variance showed that the distance to the ball had an influence on the gaze at the shooter, \(F(1,150)\) = 11.83, \(p\) \(<\) 0.001, _[PERSON]'s f_ = 0.267, and the other referees, \(F(1,150)\) = 4.79, \(p\) = 0.03, _[PERSON]'s f_ = 0.158. Post-hoc pairwise comparison for the distance to the ball revealed that the referees' fixations at the shooter (\(p\) = 0.001) more often if they were in a position farther away from the ball (\(M\) = 17.03, \(SD\) = 14.95) than in a position near the ball (\(M\) = 8.15, \(SD\) = 17.41). In contrast, another referee (\(p\) = 0.03) was looked at longer from a position near the ball (\(M\) = 1.94, \(SD\) = 3.92) compared to a farther away position (\(M\) = 0.67, \(SD\) = 3.31).