The Perception & Action Podcast

I am joined by Garret Boyum, Brock Hammit and Robert Frey from the Finding the Edge podcast and Peter Fadde from Game Sense sports to discuss an interesting new article on baseball batting. How does pitch sequencing and advance knowledge about the pitch type effect the timing of the different stages of a baseball swing? Is it a good idea to try and deliberately train batters to practice being fool...

My discussion with Chris Button, Professor in the School of Physical Education, Sport & Exercise Sciences, University of Otago, New Zealand. How can ecological dynamics and representative learning design be used to improve water safety training and prevent drowning? And a look at the second edition of one of the most influential books in this area – Dynamics of Skill Acquisition. What's new in thi...

I am joined by @PsychScientists, @singh_harjiv and @Marianne_D1 to discuss new juggling study relating the stability of attractors in our intrinsic coordination and the ability to adapt to new task constraints.       Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiVJDIx0Zps   Articles: The influence of attractor stability of intrinsic coordination patterns on the adaptation to new constraints Mor...

I am joined by Marianne Davies and Ben Franks to discuss the really interesting new article by Tim Buszard and colleagues from AIS: Scaling sports equipment for children promotes functional movement variability.     Journal Club Link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkFDwtrBfpZALV_oEPmc-cQ   Articles: Scaling sports equipment for children promotes functional movement variability   More informatio...

What is the relevance of ocular dominance for the control of action? How might it effect an athlete's choice of stance or side? Is there any evidence to support the idea that being cross-dominant (different dominant hand and dominant eye) is advantageous in sports? Journal Club Link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkFDwtrBfpZALV_oEPmc-cQ   Articles: The Advantage of Eye–Hand Cross-Dominance for...

Revisiting issue of technique change, first discussed in Episode 14. How do we prevent proactive interference from a well-learned technique? How does this vary between individuals? How is technique change conceptualized in the ecological approach to skilled performance?     Articles: Reducing Proactive Interference in Motor Tasks Interindividual differences in the capability to change automatized...

A look at decisions as emerging from a process searching for information to act and acting to acquire information. How can we manipulate constraints and interaction with opponents in practice to improve this process?   Articles: The ecological dynamics of decision making in sport Changes in practice task constraints shape decision-making behaviours of team games players Manipulating Constraints to...

A look at games based approaches to coaching. How do methods like teaching games for understanding differ from the constraints led approach? Is the CLA just "old wine in new bottles" or does it add something new?   Articles: Old wine in new bottles: a response to claims that teaching games for understanding was not developed as a theoretically based pedagogical framework A Review of the Game-Based...

What are the differences between coordination, control and skill? A look at a 3 stage model of skill acquisition and its implications for coaching and motor learning research.   Articles: Coordination, control and skill Change in Motor Learning: A Coordination and Control Perspective   More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research Gate Page (pdfs of my articles) My ASU Web page Podcas...

Applying perception-action principles to concussion and behavioral injury risk. How does concussion affect an athlete's perception of affordances and action boundaries in their environment?   Articles: Increased Risk of Musculoskeletal Injury Following Sport-Related Concussion: A Perception-Action Coupling Approach Does Concussion Affect Perception-Action Coupling Behavior? Action Boundary Percept...

Does training blind under non-vision conditions result in improved performance when the athlete returns to full vision conditions? Does it allow a performer to become more sensitive to information from other senses (e.g. proprioception and audition) or is learning specific to the conditions of practice?   Articles: Improved Muscle Activity Following Motor Training Without Vision of the Throwing Mo...

How might we periodize skill acquisition in a manner similar to physical training – taking into account factors like specificity, load, progression and reversibility? A look at the skill acquisition periodization and periodization of skill training frameworks.   Articles: Development of a skill acquisition periodisation framework for high-performance sport Skill Training Periodization in "Speciali...

A look at some recent studies investigating generalized, perceptual-cognitive training for sport. Is there any evidence that training perception and cognition out of context will result in transfer to improved performance on the sports field?   Articles: The Effectiveness of Different Visual Skills Training Programmes on Elite Cricket Players Perceptual vision training in nonsport- specific contex...

How do we use information from our environment to select between different opportunities for action (i.e. affordances)? How do we pickup this information? A look at exploratory head movements in teams sports and the affordance competition hypothesis.   Articles: Don't Turn Blind! The Relationship Between Exploration Before Ball Possession and On-Ball Performance in Association Football Principles...

A look at a few different ways to adapt training to promote motor learning. Learner-controlled practice schedules, the win move/lose stay method, and adaptive, algorithm based schedules.   Articles: Performance-Based Adaptive Schedules Enhance Motor Learning Transfer of Training from Virtual to Real Baseball Batting Win-shift, lose-stay: contingent switching and contextual interference in motor le...

Comparing and contrasting some different methods for using visual constraints during practice, including stroboscopic training, spatial  and temporal occlusion. What transfers to competition?   Articles: Effects of Visual Control Training on the Shooting Performance of Elite Female Basketball Players The impact of a training intervention with spatial occlusion goggles on controlling and passing a...

Part 4 in my series on the CLA. What is the purpose of adding constraints in the constraints led approach to coaching? How does this differ from what has been done in the past?  What are the different ways constraint manipulations can be used? How do constraints influence movement?   Me on the Talent Equation Podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/user/9625186/rob-gray-2   Improper Deceleration Example...

Revisiting the theory of differential learning. How does it differ from contextual interference? How much structure should we use when varying conditions in practice? What is stochastic resonance?   Articles: On the optimal degree of fluctuations in practice for motor learning Invited commentary: Differential learning is different from contextual interference learning Differential Learning as a Ke...

Are there benefits to doing interleaved practice with partner? Is it better if you work on the same or different skills?   Articles: Manipulations to practice organization of golf putting skills through interleaved matched or mismatched practice with a partner   More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research Gate Page (pdfs of my articles) My ASU Web page Podcast Facebook page (videos,...

Why can even relatively short breaks (like a rain delay or waiting for an opponent to take their turn) hurt performance? Why do athletes sometimes seem to completely misperceive the position of their body or how they are moving? A look at the process of calibration as linking frames of reference.   Articles: A serial‑position curve in high‑performance darts: The effect of visuomotor calibration on...

Is there one optimal movement solution for any given task? If not, can we identify the optimal movement pattern for each individual? How can knowledge of performance feedback be used to achieve optimality?   Articles: Kinematic information feedback and task constraints In search of sports biomechanics' holy grail: Can athlete-specific optimum sports techniques be identified? Should Common Optimal...

A look at motor learning as a search within perceptual-motor workspace in the Search Strategies Approach theory. How do performers find stable regions in this workspace, and how does their search depend on their intrinsic dynamics and how they are coached.   Articles: Search Strategies in the Perceptual-Motor Workspace and the Acquisition of Coordination, Control, and Skill   More information: htt...

How do we coordinate movement across our different body segments and with respect to the external environment? A look at a specific example of a coordinative structure in baseball batting.   Articles: A functional modulation for timing a movement: A coordinative structure in baseball hitting   More information: http://perceptionaction.com/ My Research Gate Page (pdfs of my articles) My ASU Web pag...

How consistently do you need to move in order to consistently be successful in a sports skill? Is low variability in movement kinematics a key to achieving your goal? How should we be measuring and conceptualizing movement variability?   Articles: Timing an attacking forehand drive in table tennis The amount and structure of human movement variability The relationship between variability in baseba...

How soon should you give an athlete performance feedback? Is there any value in delaying it a bit? What is happening in the time between an action finishing and feedback being processed? Articles: Feedback delay attenuates implicit but facilitates explicit adjustments to a visuomotor rotation An interpolated activity during the knowledge-of-results delay interval eliminates the learning advantages...