The Perception & Action Podcast

What is biotensegrity? How can it be used to understand movement coordination and preparation on an individual level and team coordination?  How does it relate to Bernstein’s concepts of motor synergies and muscle tone?   Articles: The Medium of Haptic Perception: A Tensegrity Hypothesis Is Tensegrity the Functional Architecture of the Equilibrium Point Hypothesis? Linking Tensegrity to Sports Tea...

Conscious control seems to be far too slow to account for skilled performance in sports while using automatic habits seems not to be smart enough to allow for adaptation to the ever-changing constraints an athlete faces. How can we be both adaptable and fast? Does adaptability require mental representation? Articles: Neither mindful nor mindless, but minded: habits, ecological psychology, and skil...

What is interoceptive attention and how might it help an performer adapt to changes in individual constraints like fatigue and anxiety? Article: What Makes an Elite Shooter and Archer? The Critical Role of Interoceptive Attention   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/...

Does the amount of and structure of variability matter when training a new learner? Are there benefits to using Differential Learning over a simple serial, variable practice schedule? Article: Null Effects of Different Amounts of Task Variation in Both Contextual Interference and Differential Learning Paradigms   More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research Gate Page (pdfs of my arti...

How do changes in the perceptual information available alter movement variability? If we constrain vision with occluding glasses or constrain audition with headphones how do performers adapt their movements? How does this depend on skill level?   Article: The role of variability in the control of the basketball dribble under different perceptual setups   More information: http://perceptionaction.c...

How does the constraint of effort (for example, throwing at 80% of your max vs 100%) change the coordination of degrees of freedom in movement? Do movements become mostly invariant across individuals at max effort or is there still a role for variability?   Article: Effort‑dependent effects on uniform and diverse muscle activity features in skilled pitching   More information: http://perceptionact...

Does the representativeness of a practice task effect perceptual-motor calibration? For example, is the calibration of decision making and gaze behavior more effective when hitting off a pitcher vs a tee in baseball?   Article: To Tee, Or Not to Tee: Exploring the Relationship Between Representative Practice and Performance in Highly Skilled Baseball Hitters   More information: http://perceptionac...

A look at a new study comparing the effects of the CLA, differential learning, and prescriptive training on risk factors for ACL injury. Article: Motor learning methods that induce high practice variability reduce kinematic and kinetic risk factors of non-contact ACL injury   More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research Gate Page (pdfs of my articles) My ASU Web page Podcast Facebook...

A look at some of the most interesting research articles from 2021 so far. How do constraints shape skill acquisition? How can we interpret some of the classic problems in perception from an ecological point of view? What have we learned about the search for optimal movement solutions?   Youtube Playlist Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tpPmQVgEDw&list=PL7jcinNUb4UlH12FgDhLIT4mKfehB5Y_5...

Why do many individuals have a distinctive manner of performing a motor action (aka a perceptual-motor style)? How can we determine whether a particular style is functional? How do styles change with development, sports training and through rehabilitation? Articles: Perceptual‑motor styles A whole body characterization of individual strategies, gender differences, and common styles in overarm thro...

How can mapping a movement parameter into sound be used to aid motor learning? How can it be used to help stablilize movement patterns or alternatively encourage a learner to be creative and  look for new ones? Articles: Sonification Approaches in Sports in the past Decade: A Literature Review A Perspective on Implementing Movement Sonification to Influence Movement (and Eventually Cognitive) Crea...

Why do we sometimes start moving in completely the wrong direction before changing course when intercepting a moving object? Under what conditions do these “movement reversals” occur and what do they tells us about the use of predictive vs prospective control?     Articles: Movement reversals in ball catching Visual guidance of intercepting a moving target on foot Reversals in Movement Direction i...

A look at 1/f or pink noise in the motor system. How can it be used as a metric to understand the coordination of degrees of freedom in movement? How does it change when learning a new skill?     Articles: Contemporary theories of 1/f noise in motor control 1/f scaling in movement time changes with practice in precision aiming Pink Noise in Rowing Ergometer Performance and the Role of Skill Level...

I was joined by Adam Bruton, Dan Eaves and David Wright from the Research on Imagery and Observation (or Rio group) for a really interesting discussion about applying these methods in coaching. How can we use imagery to add variability to demonstrations by coaches?   https://riogroup.weebly.com/ https://twitter.com/_RIOgroup_   More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research Gate Page (...

How do an athlete’s action capabilities (e.g. their speed, power, movement time) influence their abilities to perceive affordances and make decisions? How well calibrated are these things? Can we improve perception and decision making by increasing action capacity?   Articles: But I can’t pass that far! The influence of motor skill on decision making The influence of instructions and body-scaling...

I was joined by Mark O’Sullivan, James Rudd, Rich White and Michael Zweifel for a really interesting discussion about applying ecological dynamics to youth sports coaching and physical literacy.   Conceptualizing physical literacy within an ecological dynamics framework   More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research Gate Page (pdfs of my articles) My ASU Web page Podcast Facebook pag...

A discussion with Randy Sullivan from Florida Baseball Ranch and several professional baseball pitching coaches. Our topic was co-adaptation in baseball, looking at how a pitcher might exploit the perceptual-motor strategies that hitters are using against them.   More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research Gate Page (pdfs of my articles) My ASU Web page Podcast Facebook page (videos...

What are some the misconceptions about it how might we improve its understanding and application?   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   Credits: The Flamin' Groovies - Shake Some Action...

Can we use Newell’s constraints framework to unify the typically siloed subdisciplines (for example, skill acquisition, S&C and biomechanics) within sports science? A look at Paul Glazier’s Grand Unifying Theory of sports performance?   Articles: Towards a Grand Unified Theory of Sports Performance Video: https://youtu.be/Fz31R6sgHZ4   More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research...

A discussion with Ollie Runswick from King’s College London discussing his research on anticipation, how and when to add context to practice, and the use of video feedback in sports training.      More info about my guest: https://runswickperformance.com/   More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research Gate Page (pdfs of my articles) My ASU Web page Podcast Facebook page (videos, pics...

How do good coaches pick up information while observing an athlete, that can be used to guide skill acquisition? How can coaches better educate their attention to information that will better support search and self- organization of movement? A look at perceptual expertise in coaching.   Articles: Visual Expertise in the Perception of Action Coaches’ internal model of the tennis serve technique: K...

A look at the first section of Tim Ingold’s book “The Perception of the Environment: Essays on Livelihood, Dwelling and Skill”. Topics include education of attention, the role of culture in sports, attending vs controlling one’s environment, and showing vs telling as a coach.   The Perception of the Environment   More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research Gate Page (pdfs of my arti...

A follow up to some of the issues we discussed in Journal Club #25. How can move beyond the arguing about methods and theories?   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   Credits: The Flamin...

How can we understand the use of mental imagery in sports from an ecological perspective? How can perception be direct in imagery if there is no stimulus present? How does it relate to skilled intentionality?     Articles: Reconceiving representation-hungry cognition: an ecological-enactive proposal Effect of mental imagery on realizing affordances   Article Review: “Contextualized Skill Acquisiti...

Can we “anticipate” the future without predicting it? Are delays in our perceptual-motor system flaws that we must compensate for or actually advantageous? A look at the concept of strong anticipation.   Articles: On Strong Anticipation Anticipating synchronization as an alternative to the internal model Lectures on Perception (Chapter 26) More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research...