The Perception & Action Podcast

How do you know whether a training activity that is very different from your sport will lead to transfer? Is their value in non-specific practice? Does it depend on skill level? What is a donor sport?   Articles/Books: http://www.mytpi.com/articles/swing/catching_ping_pong_balls_to_improve_quiet_eye_for_golf Especial Skills: Their Emergence With Massive Amounts of Practice The NFL Combine: Does It...

Is it better for an athlete to develop pre-formed, reflexive responses that operate outside of consciousness (in other words, habits)? Or should we be focusing on cultivating adaptive skills that involve reflection and awareness?   Articles: Habitual Reflexivity and Skilled Action The spontaneousness of skill and the impulsivity of habit   More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research...

Can noninvasive brain stimulation be used to enhance acquisition, performance and retention of sports skills? What exactly are tMS, tCS and tDCS? Are products like Halo Sport worth your investment?   Articles: Non-invasive Human Brain Stimulation in Cognitive Neuroscience: A Primer Neurodoping: Brain Stimulation as a Performance-Enhancing Measure Modulating Motor Learning through Transcranial Dire...

A discussion with Mike Studer, President of Northwest Rehabilitation Associate. We discuss using dual tasks to encourage the development of procedural memories, constraint-induced practice, concussion rehabilitation in sports, and geriatric athletes.   More information about my guest: https://northwestrehab.com/ http://mikestuder.com/     More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research...

How effective is neurofeedback training for improving sports performance? Is it worth the investment of time and money?  Which brain rhythm should we be targeting for the best results?      Articles: Effects of learning on electroencephalographic and electrocardiographic patterns in novice archers Investigating the efficacy of neurofeedback training for expediting expertise and excellence in sport...

What is the optimal level of task difficulty to use in practice? How does it depend on the complexity of the skill and the experience of the learner? A look at the Challenge Point Hypothesis and studies which have tested its predictions.   Articles: Challenge Point: A Framework for Conceptualizing the Effects of Various Practice Conditions in Motor Learning Measurement of functional task difficult...

What does it mean to “practice with intent”? How does intention shape the way we learn and perform perceptual motor skills?     Articles: The Intention Superiority Effect in Motor Skill Learning Effects of intention and learning on attention to information in dynamic touch Conscious intention and motor cognition   More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research Gate Page (pdfs of my art...

A discussion with Rajiv Ranganthan, Assistant Professor of Kinesiology at Michigan State University. We discuss motor synergies and redundancy, the role of movement variability in the development of coordination, and using robot aided movements for rehabilitation   More information about my guest: https://sites.google.com/site/motrelab/ https://www.education.msu.edu/search/Formview.aspx?email=rran...

How can we best sort through the myriad of vision and perceptual-cognitive training tools for sports? What are the key characteristics we should be looking for? How effectively can skilled athletes inhibit and prepare to inhibit movements?   Articles: Modified perceptual training in sport: A new classification framework Proactive and Reactive Motor Inhibition in Top Athletes Versus Nonathletes   M...

What characterizes the brain activity of an elite performer? How does brain activity change during the process of skill acquisition? Do cultural environments influence motor skills? Are there “motor styles” common to members of a given cultural group?   Articles: Brain Dynamics and Motor Behavior: A Case for Efficiency and Refinement for Superior Performance Action, Movement, and Culture: Does Cul...

Why is movement variability beneficial for skill acquisition and execution? What distinguishes “good” from “bad” variability in movement?  How do different coaching/instructional methods (e.g. ordering practice conditions, cueing, differential learning, and manipulating constraints) compare in terms of their ability to encourage functional variability? When should we be trying to maximize variabil...

A discussion with Shawn Myszka from Movement Mastery. In the interview we discuss the upcoming Sport Movement Skill Conference and the Ecological Dynamics movement in coaching.   More information about my guest: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sport-movement-skill-conference-2018-tickets-41843484990 https://twitter.com/MovementMiyagi https://twitter.com/Movement_Master   More information: http://perc...

A discussion with Ed Coughlan, Phil Kearny and Olly Logan, founders of Movement & Skill Acquisition Ireland. In the interview we discuss the goals of the organization and their upcoming conference: Constraints based coaching and ecological dynamics to enhance sports performance.   More information about my guests: https://twitter.com/MSAIreland http://events.cit.ie/index.cfm?page=events&ev...

A discussion with Mark O’Sullivan, Coach with AIK Football in Stockholm. We discuss Mark’s concept of football interactions and how it relates to practice design and affordances, and the “race to the bottom” in talent identification.   More information about my guest: https://footblogball.wordpress.com/category/mark-o-sullivan/ https://twitter.com/markstkhlm   More information: http://perceptionac...

A look at research investigating the effects of assisted/guided movement on skill acquisition. Can experiencing the movement pattern of an elite athlete facilitate motor learning in a novice? Is it better to use assistance to reduce or augment errors? Articles/Books: Can Robots Help the Learning of Skilled Actions? Robot assistance of motor learning: A neuro-cognitive perspective Robotic guidance...

A look at how Bernstein’s famous phrase “repetition without repetition” revolutionized how we think about motor learning. And an introduction to a few extensions of Bernstein’s ideas including coordinative structures and the uncontrolled manifold hypothesis. Articles/Books: Dexterity and Its Development The Bernstein perspective: II. The concept of muscle linkage or coordinative structure The blis...

A look at Bernstein’s theory of freezing/freeing degrees of freedom during skill acquisition and some research which has tested these ideas. Articles/Books: Dexterity and Its Development Free(z)ing Degrees of Freedom in Skill Acquisition Conscious Control Is Associated With Freezing of Mechanical Degrees of Freedom During Motor Learning Throwing Skills: Analysis of Movement Phases in Early Motor L...

The first episode in a series looking at the contributions of Nikolai Bernstein to our understanding of motor control and motor learning. What were Bernstein’s “problems? Is finding solutions to these problems really what effective coaching is all about? Articles/Books: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Bernstein Dexterity and Its Development The Bernstein perspective: I. The problems of degre...

A look at the Differential Learning approach to skill acquisition. Is maximizing movement variability by preventing repetition and correction the optimal way to design practice? How does this differ from the Constraints-Led Approach?   Articles The Nonlinear Nature of Learning - A Differential Learning Approach Time scales of adaptive behavior and motor learning in the presence of stochastic pertu...

A look at some recent research examining contextual interference, blocked vs random and variable vs constant practice.  How should coaches put these concepts into practice?   Articles Quantifying Contextual Interference and Its Effect on Skill Transfer in Skilled Youth Tennis Players Effects of practice schedule and task specificity on the adaptive process of motor learning Exploring the applicabi...

A discussion with Leah Robinson, Associate Professor of Movement Science from the University of Michigan. Topics include the importance of fundamental movement skills, how these skills should be measured, perceived motor competence and interventions for promoting movement in young children.   More information about my guest: http://www.kines.umich.edu/directory/faculty/leah-robinson http://www.cma...

Looking at research that has evaluated the Constraints-Led Approach (CLA) to coaching. How effective is this approach? What effects do changing constraints actually have on performance? How does the CLA compare to other more traditional coaching methods?   Articles Scaling the Equipment and Play Area in Children's Sport to improve Motor Skill Acquisition: A Systematic Review Switching tools: Perce...

What processes are involved when movement coordination is self-organized around constraints? How does the performer take into account their own action capabilities? What is the best way to design practice according to these ideas? A look at behavioral and ecological dynamics.   Articles The Dynamics of Perception and Action An Ecological Dynamics Approach to Skill Acquisition: Implications for Dev...

The first in a 3 part series on The Constraints-Led Approach to Coaching. What exactly are constraints? What are some common misconceptions about them? Why is understanding the theory behind them critical for using them effectively?      Articles Constraints on the development of coordination Change of Direction and Agility Tests: Challenging Our Current Measures of Performance   More information:...

A discussion with Brian McCormick, Head basketball coach at Broward College in Florida. Topics include current problems with the way we identify and develop talent, coaching fake fundamentals, and designing practice to increase game intelligence and awareness.   More information about my guest: https://learntocoachbasketball.com/ https://twitter.com/brianmccormick https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian...