The Perception & Action Podcast

A look Michaels and Palatinus’ 10 commandments for ecological psychology and their implications for skill acquisition research and coaching. Why are the principles of the ecological approach a package deal?   Articles/Links: A Ten Commandments for Ecological Psychology   More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research Gate Page (pdfs of my articles) My ASU Web page Podcast Facebook page...

How does pain shape learning and re-learning to move? How does it change the field of affordances available to an athlete? What is the best way to treat it?   Articles/Links: Pain and the field of affordances: an enactive approach to acute and chronic pain   https://youtu.be/Xn05zbO4Y-w     More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research Gate Page (pdfs of my articles) My ASU Web page P...

Why did I make the switch in my career from thinking about skill as an indirect, predictive process involving internal models to direct perception, ecological dynamics?  Why do I think the latter is a better approach to understanding and developing skill?     Articles: “Markov at the Bat”: A Model of Cognitive Processing in Baseball Batters A model of motor inhibition for a complex skill: Baseball...

What is the difference between using online vs offline information to our control our actions on the one hand and the dichotomy between direct vs indirect perception, on the other? How have these been used incorrectly in many attempts to integrate skill acquisition approaches? An attempt at some clarification.   Articles/Links: Expert Anticipatory Skill in Striking Sports The use of contextual pri...

How can we apply an ecological approach to coaching volleyball? Are the ideas of “repetition without repetition” and motor synergies supported by research on this sport? What has research shown about the benefits of using the CLA and differential learning in volleyball? https://youtu.be/c_yWNTxzaVE https://youtu.be/oULzGe8Lnf4   More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research Gate Page...

Can athletes learn to use the auditory information available in a sports environment to improve their performance? Can we see all around us with sound? For those that aren’t familiar with his story, Brian Bushway started to go blind when he was 14 and now has no response to light at all. But amazingly he can still see! Brian has learned to echolocate. That is, he uses the auditory information that...

How can we make isolated, at home sports training more representative? A discussion with Ryan and Brett from SwitchedOn Training.   Links: https://www.switchedontrainingapp.com/   More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research Gate Page (pdfs of my articles) My ASU Web page Podcast Facebook page (videos, pics, etc)   Subscribe in iOS/Apple Subscribe in Anroid/Google   Support the podca...

A few updates on the first month of my book release. And how do we achieve balance in looking at the different theories of skill acquisition? Is it possible to integrate the different approaches?   Articles: Two visual systems and two theories of perception: An attempt to reconcile the constructivist and ecological approaches Information Processing and Constraints-based Views of Skill Acquisition:...

What exactly are Linear and Nonlinear Pedagogy? How does Nonlinear Pedagogy relate to ecological dynamics?   Articles: The Role of Nonlinear Pedagogy in Supporting the Design of Modified Games in Junior Sports   More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research Gate Page (pdfs of my articles) My ASU Web page Podcast Facebook page (videos, pics, etc)   Subscribe in iOS/Apple Subscribe in A...

Why do we need both ecological psychology and behavioral dynamics to understand skilled behavior? What is metastable attunement and how does it capture this combination?   Articles: Metastable attunement and real‑life skilled behavior Interpersonal Distance Regulates Functional Grouping Tendencies of Agents in Team Sports Desideratum for GUT: A functional semantics for sport   More information: ht...

What are the options for furthering your education in skill acquisition if you are a coach or practitioner. What should you be looking for in a program and advisor?   More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research Gate Page (pdfs of my articles) My ASU Web page Podcast Facebook page (videos, pics, etc)   Subscribe in iOS/Apple Subscribe in Anroid/Google   Support the podcast and receiv...

A chapter-by-chapter preview of my newly released book.   Links: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09K1T1TG4 https://perceptionaction.com/book/   More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research Gate Page (pdfs of my articles) My ASU Web page Podcast Facebook page (videos, pics, etc)   Subscribe in iOS/Apple Subscribe in Anroid/Google   Support the podcast and receive bonus content   Cr...

A discussion about how film and video can be used identify information-movement laws and affordances, and be used to guide an athlete’s exploration of perceptual-motor space.   More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research Gate Page (pdfs of my articles) My ASU Web page Podcast Facebook page (videos, pics, etc)   Subscribe in iOS/Apple Subscribe in Anroid/Google   Support the podcast...

What does the research say about the role of movement variability in basketball? How do new players solve the degrees of freedom problem? How can we use the CLA to encourage the development of good variability and motor synergies in shooting?     More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research Gate Page (pdfs of my articles) My ASU Web page Podcast Facebook page (videos, pics, etc)   Su...

My interview with Andrew Wilson from Leeds Beckett discussing this exciting new project he is coordinating with Southampton Football Academy: The Ecological Learning Lab. What is it all about and how can you get involved?   Contact info: A.D.Wilson@leedsbeckett.ac.uk https://twitter.com/PsychScientists   More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research Gate Page (pdfs of my articles) My...

How do analogy instructions effect movement coordination? Is it better to use a separate analogy for each body part or an integrated one for the whole movement? Plus, a preview of the upcoming Skill Acquisition Summit.   Article: Effects of different types of analogy instruction on the performance and inter-joint coordination of novice darts learners   Summit: https://floridabaseballarmory.com/sum...

How can we apply an ecological approach to training martial arts and MMA? How can we redesign practice to make it more alive and representative? A discussion with Rafe Kelley, Shawn Myszka, Josh Peacock and Scott Sievewright.     More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research Gate Page (pdfs of my articles) My ASU Web page Podcast Facebook page (videos, pics, etc)   Subscribe in iOS/Ap...

How does the ecological approach to skill acquisition change the way we think about movement creativity? How can we promote it through practice design?   Article: The effects of linear, nonlinear, and differential motor learning methods on the emergence of creative action in individual soccer players   More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research Gate Page (pdfs of my articles) My AS...

How does cognition fit into an ecological approach? Was is the difference between technique, skill and action capacity? How should rule based vs physical constraints be used in practice? An emergent discussion on some topics related to applying an ecological dynamics approach in coaching   https://youtu.be/Bqicr_vA5bU   More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research Gate Page (pdfs of...

When faced with changing constraints how do performers balance the competing demands of exploring solution space for a new movement solution and maintaining short-term performance success?   Article: Exploration evoked by the environment is balanced by the need to perform in cricket spin bowling   More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research Gate Page (pdfs of my articles) My ASU Web...

Does more representative design lead to better transfer of training? Does it make athlete more adaptable and strategic in their play? What is the relationship between the CLA and representative design?   Articles: Enhancing skill transfer in tennis using representative learning design   More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research Gate Page (pdfs of my articles) My ASU Web page Podca...

How do skilled performers achieve both speed and accuracy? Is it by reducing variability in movement parameters (i.e., repeatability)? Or is by allowing movement parameters to co-vary and compensate for each other (i.e., motor synergies)?   Articles: Control of Accuracy during Movements of High Speed: Implications from Baseball Pitching   More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research...

How well calibrated is our perception of task difficulty? To what degree can athletes assess whether the difficulty of a practice task is optimal for motor learning?   Articles: Choosing an optimal motor-task difficulty is not trivial: The influence of age and expertise Metacognition in motor learning   More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research Gate Page (pdfs of my articles) My A...

What is a “smart” perceptual mechanism? How does it differ from the rote mechanisms used in information processing theory, where simple features are used for computation and processing? Are we missing opportunities to train the development of these smart perceptual mechanism in sports, forcing an athlete to see in terms of simple variables and categories, when we could be training them to pick up...

What is the role of the “self” in self organization? How does its pre-loaded conception lead to some misunderstanding about self-organization and misapplication of methods designed to promote it, like the CLA? How does it relate to self-regulation in skill acquisition? An attempt at some clarification. Articles: Self-organisation and constraints in sports performance Self-regulated learning strate...