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Archers notice big changes in their equipment, not small differences

2 studies · 19 archers measured

ForContextAgainst2000200520102015202020252001, context, n = 101998, for, n = 9
Each circle is a study: its position gives the year, its row whether it is for, against or context, its size how many participants it measured. Light circles are studies on other populations or without archers.

No study has been built around this question, and what we know comes from two observations made in passing. In 1998, in a study of the electromyography of the shot, one arrow in five was lengthened by five millimetres, which shifts the moment the clicker goes off, and none of the nine German national squad archers noticed. In 2001 ten kyudo archers each shot five arrows with every one of four strings made of different materials, commenting on the feel after every shot: for Kevlar, the string eight of them normally used, "feel as usual" and "no particular impression" prevailed, while for the other three the comments were spread differently, with more remarks about vibration and impact for hemp. The study does not say, though, that the archers did not know which string they were shooting, so it does not show that the change can be felt blind. The first observation supports the half about small differences, for big changes there is only a hint, and neither measures a threshold.

Also phrased as: "feeling the equipment"; "feel of the shot"; "archers feel the difference"; "noticing changes to the bow"; "feel for the bow"

In practice

Archers are told that an experienced archer feels every tiny change in the bow or the arrows, and the feel of the shot is often used as the criterion for choosing and tuning equipment.

Evidence

  • 1998
    For Archers Published later

    Nine German national squad archers, 35 normal shots and 5 with an extended aim each: one arrow in five had been lengthened by 5 millimetres, to shift the moment the clicker went off, without any of the archers noticing. It is a note on method, not a perception test.

    Coordinative Aspects of Archery - An Approach Using Surface-Electromyography · Jürgen Edelmann-Nusser, Albert Gollhofer

  • 2001
    Context Kyudo archers Published later

    Ten archers from a university kyudo club, four strings of different material, five shots each per string (50 per string) with a free comment after each shot: eight of the ten normally used Kevlar, and for that string the answers "feel as usual" and "no particular impression" prevail, so much so that Kevlar was left out of the later analysis. The study does not say that the archers did not know which string they were using.

    BOWSTRING EVALUATION BASED ON Kansei ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY · Satoshi Hosoya, Takashi Kawamura, Yosuke Horiba

  • 2001
    Context Kyudo archers Published later

    In the same study the comments on the three strings other than Kevlar, sorted into four categories, are not spread as they would be if the material made no difference: chi-squared with 6 degrees of freedom of 12.69, just above the threshold of 12.59 for p below 0.05. Vectran draws fewer comments about sound than expected, and hemp, which is also the string that differs most mechanically, more comments about vibration and impact.

    BOWSTRING EVALUATION BASED ON Kansei ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY · Satoshi Hosoya, Takashi Kawamura, Yosuke Horiba

Status history

  1. 1998 Reported The first observation arrives in passing, inside a study of the electromyography of the shot: one arrow in five is lengthened by five millimetres and none of the nine German national squad archers notices. It says something about small differences, in good archers, but it is a note on method rather than a test designed for the question: reported.
  2. 2001 Reported A hint about the other half of the claim arrives, from kyudo: with the Kevlar string they normally used, eight archers out of ten comment "feel as usual" or "no impression", while with the other three strings the comments change, and for hemp they speak more often of vibration and impact. But the study was designed to compare strings, not perception, and does not say that the archers did not know which string they were using. The only evidence in favour remains the 1998 observation on small differences: the status holds.

Related

Related articles

Research lines

Cite
APA

Campagna, M. (2026). Archers notice big changes in their equipment, not small differences (Version 1). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/equipment/archers-notice-equipment-changes

BibTeX
@misc{campagna2026_sensibilitaarciereattrezzatura,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {Archers notice big changes in their equipment, not small differences},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/equipment/archers-notice-equipment-changes},
  note = {Version 1; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

Other claims in this domain

See all claims on equipment and tuning