title: Swimming accuracy and consistency of scuba divers under conditions of low visibility.
abstract: We had 55 blindfolded scuba divers repeatedly attempt to swim a straight line, make 90 degrees turns to the right and left, and make a 180 degrees turn. A given diver was reasonably consistent in the direction of his error from one trial to another and from one maneuver to another, although about half the divers tended to err to the right and half to the left. When attempted in a swimming pool, the median error over all maneuvers, irrespective of direction, was about 12 degrees. Further experiments showed that the direction of error was consistent, whether the divers were wearing scuba tanks or not, and whether they were swimming blindfolded in a swimming pool or sighted in a lake with water visibility limited to about 2 m. Direction of error did not correlate, however, with the preferred hand, with preferred foot for kicking a football, or with relative strength of the legs. Although hand- and foot-preference were highly correlated, foot-preference was not correlated with relative strength of legs.
mesh_terms: D004242:Diving; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009326:Naval Medicine; D009949:Orientation; D013550:Swimming; D014785:Vision, Ocular