The Effect of Visual Functions on Target Discrimination and Shooting Skill in Military Students

Introduction:b> The ability to fight with enemy with a gun (shooting) is one of the basic skills of military forces. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the effect of visual skills such as visual acuity, stereo acuity, color vision, contrast sensitivity and eye- hand dominance distribution on targeting and shooting scores in military forces.

Methods and materials:b> This is a cross sectional study. The sample group was random students of a military college in Tehran, Iran. After filling out consent forms the students were referred to the military hospital for examination. The mean age was between 18-28 years old. Cases with prior history of eye disease and surgery or neurological problem were excluded. The shooting score of each person and their best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) were recorded. Test results of stereo acuity, color vision and contrast sensitivity of each case at the table was recorded and compared with shooting scores. The data was analyzed with SPSS (version 19) software.

Results:b> A total of 100 cases were enrolled in this study. There was a direct relationship between visual acuity and target shooting skills in the military students. It was found that people who had better visual acuity, had also better shooting scores.

Conclusion: The results showed that people who have better visual acuity and stereo acuity have better shooting scores.

Keywords: Shooting, Visual acuity, Targeting