Objective  To compare the decision-making ability and visual search behavior differences of race-walking referees under different experience levels and penalty difficulty conditions.

Methods  Eye tracking technology and expert-novice research paradigm were used to collect behavioral indicators and eye movement indicators of subjects in the decision-making.

Results  Behavioral indicators: The experts outperformed novices, with both higher accuracy and shorter reaction times. Under the condition of interference, the accuracy of the novices decreased significantly and the reaction time increased significantly, while the experts had no significant differences. Eye movement indicators: The fixation time, fixation count and saccade count of the experts were significantly lower than the novices. Under the interference condition, the fixation time, fixation count and saccade count of the novices were significantly higher than those under the non-interference condition, and there was no significant difference in the experts. The AOI eye movement indicators showed that the fixation time of the experts on the knee and ankle of the athletes was significantly higher than that of novices, and the fixation count was significantly lower than that of novices. The visual images showed that the fixation trajectory of the experts were clear and the fixation hotspots were concentrated while the novices' fixation trajectory was complex and irregular, and the fixation hotspots were scattered.

Conclusion High-level race-walking referees have good decision-making ability and visual information processing ability. The visual search in the process of ruling is more concise and efficient, and the ability to resist off-site interference is strong. It reflects the top-down processing characteristics and shows the cognitive advantages of experts.