Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and sedentary behavior in children with and without developmental coordination disorder: Associations with fundamental movement skills.

BACKGROUND: There is a pandemic of physical inactivity in children. Compared to children with typical development (TD), those with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) are less physically active. Mastery of movement skills such as fundamental movement skills (FMS) are potential correlates of physical activity. AIMS: To examine the associations of FMS with moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary behavior (SB) in children with DCD and TD. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: This cross-sectional study included 172 children with DCD (n = 73; boys = 49) or TD (n = 99; boys = 48) aged 6-10 years. Five components of FMS (running, jumping, throwing, catching, kicking) were assessed using process- and product- oriented approaches using the Test of Gross Motor Development-second edition. The time spent in MVPA and SB was measured using accelerometers. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Children with DCD had significantly poorer performance in FMS proficiency in terms of specific movement patterns (jumping and catching) and outcomes (running, jumping, catching, and kicking) when compared to children with TD. MVPA and SB were significantly associated with certain process-oriented FMS assessments in children, which was moderated by motor coordination status and sex. Movement patterns of catching (odds ratio = 1.686, p < .05) was a significant predictor of children's attainment of the MVPA guideline. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: It is important to develop FMS patterns and ball skills in early childhood, particularly for children with DCD, to combat physical inactivity and its related health problems.

Falling for a Fake: The Role of Kinematic and Non-kinematic Information in Deception Detection.

Kinematic and non-kinematic visual information have been examined in the context of movement anticipation by athletes, although less so in deception detection. This study examined the role of kinematic and non-kinematic visual information in the anticipation of deceptive and non-deceptive badminton shots. Skilled ( n = 12) and less skilled ( n = 12) badminton players anticipated the direction of deceptive and non-deceptive shots presented via video footage displayed in normal (kinematic and non-kinematic information), low (kinematic information emphasized), and high (non-kinematic information emphasized) spatial frequency conditions. Each shot was occluded one frame before shuttle-racquet contact or at contact. In deceptive trials, skilled players showed decreased anticipation accuracy in the high spatial frequency condition ( p = .050) compared to normal and low spatial frequency conditions, which did not differ. The study suggests that an emphasis on kinematic information results in accurate anticipation in response to deceptive movements and that an emphasis on non-kinematic information results in less accurate anticipation by experts.

Stepovers and Signal Detection: Response Sensitivity and Bias in the Differentiation of Genuine and Deceptive Football Actions.

The ability to differentiate genuine and deceptive actions was examined using a combination of spatial and temporal occlusion to examine sensitivity to lower body, upper body, and full body sources of visual information. High-skilled and low-skilled association football players judged whether a player genuinely intended to take the ball to the participant's left or right or intended to step over the ball then take it in the other direction. Signal detection analysis was used to calculate measures of sensitivity (d') in differentiating genuine and deceptive actions and bias (c) toward judging an action to be genuine or deceptive. Analysis revealed that high-skilled players had higher sensitivity than low-skilled players and this was consistent across all spatial occlusion conditions. Low-skilled players were more biased toward judging actions to be genuine. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves revealed that accuracy on deceptive trials in the lower body and full body conditions most accurately classified participants as high-skilled or low-skilled. The results highlight the value of using signal detection analysis in studies of deceptive actions. They suggest that information from the lower body or upper body was sufficient for differentiating genuine and deceptive actions and that global information concurrently derived from these sources was not necessary to support the expert advantage.

The Perception of Deceptive Information Can Be Enhanced by Training That Removes Superficial Visual Information.

The ability to detect deceptive intent within actions is a crucial element of skill across many tasks. Evidence suggests that deceptive actions may rely on the use of superficial visual information to hide the basic kinematic information which specifies the actor's intent. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the ability of observers to anticipate deceptive actions could be enhanced by training which removes superficial visual information. Novice badminton players (n = 36) were allocated to one of three groups who performed perceptual training over 3 days, with the efficacy of training assessed using tests of anticipatory skill conducted at pre-test, post-test, and a 1-week retention test. During training, participants watched a series of non-deceptive badminton shots performed by actors, with the footage manipulated to display either (i) low spatial-frequency information only (low-SF training group; blurring to remove superficial information); (ii) high spatial-frequency information only (high-SF training group; an 'edge detector' to highlight superficial information); or (iii) normal vision (normal-SF group). Participants were asked to anticipate the direction of the shuttle when footage was occluded at the moment of racquet-shuttle contact. In the post-test, response accuracy (RA) when viewing deceptive trials was higher for the low-SF training group when compared to the normal-SF (control) training group (p = 0.005), with the difference retained in the retention test (p = 0.020). High-SF training resulted in greater performance at post-test (p = 0.038) but not retention (p = 0.956). The analysis of gaze provided some explanation for the findings, with the low-SF training group spending more time after training fixating on the location of racquet-shuttle contact than did the normal training group (p = 0.028). The findings demonstrate that training which conveys only the basic kinematic movements visible in low-SF information may be effective in learning to 'see-through' deceptive intent.

Modified perceptual training in sport: A new classification framework.

OBJECTIVES: To overview a framework that provides a theoretically-grounded approach to predicting the types of modified perceptual training tasks that will stimulate transfer of improved perceptual skills to sport performance environments. Modified perceptual training (MPT) collectively describes on- or off-field sports training tasks that are specifically designed to develop visual and perceptual-cognitive skill. Traditional training approaches in sport include sports vision training and perceptual-cognitive training, while recently, new technologies have enabled a broad range of additional MPT tools to become available to coaches and athletes. DESIGN: Short literature review and opinion article. METHODS: Literature in the fields of sports vision training and perceptual-cognitive training are summarised and contrasted. A selection of emerging MPT technologies are then overviewed. This leads to the identification of three interacting factors of MPT task design that may influence the task's capacity to transfer improved training performance to actual competition: (i) the targeted perceptual function, (ii) stimulus correspondence, and (iii) response correspondence, which are assimilated with key tenets of representative learning design. RESULTS: These three theoretically-grounded differences are adopted to support and justify the structure of the Modified Perceptual Training Framework which sets out predictions for future research to test in order to clarify the transfer effect of MPT tools. CONCLUSIONS: The application of the Modified Perceptual Training Framework may assist in future testing, design and selection of beneficial training tools in sport and as such, is predicted to have significant impact in empirical and practical settings.

Reduced attentional focus and the influence on expert anticipatory perception.

The anticipatory memory encodings of expert and novice basketball players were examined under conditions of both full (attended condition) and reduced (unattended condition) attention (see also Gorman, Abernethy, & Farrow in Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 75, 835-844, 2013a). Participants completed a typical pattern recall task using dynamic playing sequences from basketball, and their responses were compared to both the original target pattern as well as to the series of patterns that occurred immediately after and immediately before the target image. The latter had not previously been employed in a pattern recall task when examining the anticipatory encoding of pattern information. Results revealed that the overall extent of the forward displacement for both the attended and unattended patterns was generally significantly greater for the experts, with the expert advantage tending to be most prominent for the attacking patterns. The novel addition of both forward and backward scenes may provide a more precise measure of the anticipatory effect, suggesting that future research in this domain should use a similar methodological design.

Visual strategies underpinning the development of visual-motor expertise when hitting a ball.

It is well known that skilled batters in fast-ball sports do not align their gaze with the ball throughout ball-flight, but instead adopt a unique sequence of eye and head movements that contribute toward their skill. However, much of what we know about visual-motor behavior in hitting is based on studies that have employed case study designs, and/or used simplified tasks that fall short of replicating the spatiotemporal demands experienced in the natural environment. The aim of this study was to provide a comprehensive examination of the eye and head movement strategies that underpin the development of visual-motor expertise when intercepting a fast-moving target. Eye and head movements were examined in situ for 4 groups of cricket batters, who were crossed for playing level (elite or club) and age (U19 or adult), when hitting balls that followed either straight or curving ('swinging') trajectories. The results provide support for some widely cited markers of expertise in batting, while questioning the legitimacy of others. Swinging trajectories alter the visual-motor behavior of all batters, though in large part because of the uncertainty generated by the possibility of a variation in trajectory rather than any actual change in trajectory per se. Moreover, curving trajectories influence visual-motor behavior in a nonlinear fashion, with targets that curve away from the observer influencing behavior more than those that curve inward. The findings provide a more comprehensive understanding of the development of visual-motor expertise in interception. (PsycINFO Database Record

The influence of ball-swing on the timing and coordination of a natural interceptive task.

Successful interception relies on the use of perceptual information to accurately guide an efficient movement strategy that allows performers to be placed at the right place at the right time. Although previous studies have highlighted the differences in the timing and coordination of movement that underpin interceptive expertise, very little is known about how these movement patterns are adapted when intercepting targets that follow a curvilinear flight-path. The aim of this study was to examine how curvilinear ball-trajectories influence movement patterns when intercepting a fast-moving target. Movement timing and coordination was examined when four groups of cricket batters, who differed in their skill level and/or age, hit targets that followed straight or curvilinear flight-paths. The results revealed that when compared to hitting straight trials, (i) mixing straight with curvilinear trials altered movement coordination and when the ball was hit, (ii) curvilinear trajectories reduced interceptive performance and significantly delayed the timing of all kinematic moments, but there were (iii) larger decrease in performance when the ball swung away from (rather than in towards) the performer. Movement coordination differed between skill but not age groups, suggesting that skill-appropriate movement patterns that are apparent in adults may have fully emerged by late adolescence.

Does perceptual or motor experience influence the perception of global and joint-specific kinematic changes in complex movement patterns?

The perception and identification of technical errors during skill execution is a critical component in coaching, because it provides the foundation for skill analysis, instruction, and feedback provision. In this study, we examined the influences of perceptual and motor experience on the perception of kinematic change in a technical evaluation task that is common in coaching. A total of 21 expert coaches, stratified by playing ("motor") expertise, as well as ten novice coaches and ten current players, observed video and point-light displays of a service action and recorded written judgments on whether the serve had changed from one video clip to the next. Three kinematic variables were manipulated: maximum knee flexion, maximum trunk rotation, and ball toss position at zenith. Coaching experience provided no additional benefit when perceiving global (holistic) changes in the service action, and limited if any benefit when perceiving specific changes in the observed kinematics. A significant expertise effect showed that expert coaches have increased sensitivity when detecting smaller changes in knee flexion. Changes in trunk rotation appeared difficult to perceive for all groups, whereas changes in lateral ball toss position were easily perceived. Motor experience did not influence the perception of global kinematics and provided no benefit above perceptual experience alone when perceiving specific kinematic changes. Collectively, the findings demonstrate that experienced coaches have the capacity to detect relatively small changes in kinematics; however, the ability to detect changes does not appear to be influenced by the extent of their own expertise in producing the movement pattern being evaluated.

The Great British Medalists Project: A Review of Current Knowledge on the Development of the World's Best Sporting Talent.

The literature base regarding the development of sporting talent is extensive, and includes empirical articles, reviews, position papers, academic books, governing body documents, popular books, unpublished theses and anecdotal evidence, and contains numerous models of talent development. With such a varied body of work, the task for researchers, practitioners and policy makers of generating a clear understanding of what is known and what is thought to be true regarding the development of sporting talent is particularly challenging. Drawing on a wide array of expertise, we address this challenge by avoiding adherence to any specific model or area and by providing a reasoned review across three key overarching topics: (a) the performer; (b) the environment; and (c) practice and training. Within each topic sub-section, we review and calibrate evidence by performance level of the samples. We then conclude each sub-section with a brief summary, a rating of the quality of evidence, a recommendation for practice and suggestions for future research. These serve to highlight both our current level of understanding and our level of confidence in providing practice recommendations, but also point to a need for future studies that could offer evidence regarding the complex interactions that almost certainly exist across domains.

Gaze-contingent training enhances perceptual skill acquisition.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether decision-making skill in perceptual-cognitive tasks could be enhanced using a training technique that impaired selective areas of the visual field. Recreational basketball players performed perceptual training over 3 days while viewing with a gaze-contingent manipulation that displayed either (a) a moving window (clear central and blurred peripheral vision), (b) a moving mask (blurred central and clear peripheral vision), or (c) full (unrestricted) vision. During the training, participants watched video clips of basketball play and at the conclusion of each clip made a decision about to which teammate the player in possession of the ball should pass. A further control group watched unrelated videos with full vision. The effects of training were assessed using separate tests of decision-making skill conducted in a pretest, posttest, and 2-week retention test. The accuracy of decision making was greater in the posttest than in the pretest for all three intervention groups when compared with the control group. Remarkably, training with blurred peripheral vision resulted in a further improvement in performance from posttest to retention test that was not apparent for the other groups. The type of training had no measurable impact on the visual search strategies of the participants, and so the training improvements appear to be grounded in changes in information pickup. The findings show that learning with impaired peripheral vision offers a promising form of training to support improvements in perceptual skill.

Instructions influence response to the Chinese version of the Movement-Specific Reinvestment Scale in community-dwelling older adults.

AIM: To examine whether differences emerged when the Chinese version of the Movement-Specific Reinvestment Scale (MSRS-C) was administered to community-dwelling older adults with instructions to respond in the context of "general" movements, walking, using chopsticks or dressing. Furthermore, the difference between the six-point Likert scale and four-point Likert scale response formats of the MSRS-C was investigated. METHODS: The study was implemented in the community of Hong Kong with 52 older adults (mean age 77.4 years). Telephone interviews were carried out on two occasions for each participant. Participants provided a verbal response to each of 10 questions from the MSRS-C with different response formats (i.e., six-point or four-point Likert Scales) and different instructions in the response context (i.e. general, walking, using chopsticks, dressing). The sequence of response format and context was randomized for each participant. RESULTS: Older fallers scored significantly higher on the MSRS-C (general) with six-point or four-point response formats than non-fallers. The MSRS-C (general) and MSRS-C (walking) were not statistically different, and showed good discriminative power for previous older fall status (older fallers or older non-fallers). However, MSRS-C (chopsticks) and MSRS-C (dressing) failed to differentiate older fallers from older non-fallers. CONCLUSION: Both the MSRS-C (general) and MSRS-C (walking) with a six-point or a four-point response format showed good discrimination of older fallers from non-fallers. Older adults might respond to the MSRS-C with respect to the most challenging movements (e.g. fall-related movements) in their daily living. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2016; 16: 1305-1311.

Using Fitts' Law to Detect Intentional Misrepresentation.

In paralympic classification, tests of impaired coordination (e.g., reciprocal tapping tasks) are effort dependent and therefore susceptible to intentional misrepresentation of abilities (IM)-deliberate exaggeration of impairment severity. The authors investigated whether reciprocal tapping tasks performed submaximally could be differentiated from tapping tasks performed with maximal voluntary effort, based on conformity with Fitts' law. Ten nondisabled participants performed 14 tapping tasks with their dominant hand on 3 separate occasions. Seven tasks were performed with MVE and the other 7 at speeds that were at least 20% slower. Results revealed that evaluating conformity with Fitts' law is a potentially valid method for objectively detecting IM during reciprocal tapping. Evaluation of sensitivity and specificity of the method is now warranted.

Exploring the kinaesthetic sensitivity of skilled performers for implementing movement instructions.

The capability to effectively control or adapt a movement pattern based on instructional feedback is essential for effective motor skill learning in high-level sport, as it is in other domains such as rehabilitation or music. Despite this, little is known about the capabilities of skilled athletes to use kinematic feedback to purposefully modify complex movements. This study examined the accuracy with which skilled junior tennis players could translate specific kinematic feedback into appropriate modifications of their service actions. Participants were required to either increase or decrease maximum knee flexion or shift impact position laterally by incremental amounts. Further, participants were required to execute their serve with the smallest increase and decrease in these kinematic components as they could consciously produce. Inherent variability within the desired target parameters was calculated to add context to the athlete's accuracy. Results demonstrated that while participants had considerable control over their movements, only some instructions were executed with accuracy greater the variability normally present within their movement. As the required change in knee flexion and impact position increased, absolute accuracy of implementation decreased. These findings are discussed with reference to the smallest controllable changes produced by the athletes and the variability within their actions.

Evidence of different underlying processes in pattern recall and decision-making.

The visual search characteristics of expert and novice basketball players were recorded during pattern recall and decision-making tasks to determine whether the two tasks shared common visual-perceptual processing strategies. The order in which participants entered the pattern elements in the recall task was also analysed to further examine the nature of the visual-perceptual strategies and the relative emphasis placed upon particular pattern features. The experts demonstrated superior performance across the recall and decision-making tasks [see also Gorman, A. D., Abernethy, B., & Farrow, D. (2012). Classical pattern recall tests and the prospective nature of expert performance. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 65, 1151-1160; Gorman, A. D., Abernethy, B., & Farrow, D. (2013a). Is the relationship between pattern recall and decision-making influenced by anticipatory recall? The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 66, 2219-2236)] but a number of significant differences in the visual search data highlighted disparities in the processing strategies, suggesting that recall skill may utilize different underlying visual-perceptual processes than those required for accurate decision-making performance in the natural setting. Performance on the recall task was characterized by a proximal-to-distal order of entry of the pattern elements with participants tending to enter the players located closest to the ball carrier earlier than those located more distal to the ball carrier. The results provide further evidence of the underlying perceptual processes employed by experts when extracting visual information from complex and dynamic patterns.

The contributions of central and peripheral vision to expertise in basketball: How blur helps to provide a clearer picture.

The main purpose of this study was to examine the relative roles of central and peripheral vision when performing a dynamic forced-choice task. We did so by using a gaze-contingent display with different levels of blur in an effort to (a) test the limit of visual resolution necessary for information pick-up in each of these sectors of the visual field and, as a result, to (b) develop a more natural means of gaze-contingent display using a blurred central or peripheral visual field. The expert advantage seen in usual whole field visual presentation persists despite surprisingly high levels of impairment to central or peripheral vision. Consistent with the well-established central/peripheral differences in sensitivity to spatial frequency, high levels of blur did not prevent better-than-chance performance by skilled players when peripheral information was blurred, but they did affect response accuracy when impairing central vision. Blur was found to always alter the pattern of eye movements before it decreased task performance. The evidence accumulated across the 4 experiments provides new insights into several key questions surrounding the role that different sectors of the visual field play in expertise in dynamic, time-constrained tasks.

Physical activity and movement skills proficiency of young Filipino children.

Recent reports indicate an increasing prevalence of overweight among Filipino children. Considering the known association of physical activity (PA) with obesity, this study reports the findings of an objective monitoring of PA in a sample of Filipino children. The study also explores the relationship of PA with fundamental movement skills (FMS) proficiency. Thirty-two children (6.54 ± 2.45 years old) wore an accelerometer for 7 days of PA monitoring and were assessed on five FMS (throw, catch, kick, run, jump). The children met the World Health Organization's recommendation of 60 min of PA per day, with more active time being accrued during weekdays than weekends. Children with greater FMS proficiency were found to spend more time in PA than those who were less skillful during weekends. Further research is recommended to examine PA and FMS proficiency associations, exploring the role of social interactions on weekends and weekdays.

Guiding attention aids the acquisition of anticipatory skill in novice soccer goalkeepers.

PURPOSE: The ability to anticipate the actions of opponents can be enhanced through perceptual-skill training, though there is doubt regarding the most effective form of doing so. We sought to evaluate whether perceptual-skill learning would be enhanced when supplemented with guiding visual information. METHOD: Twenty-eight participants without soccer-playing experience were assigned to a guided perceptual-training group (n = 9), an unguided perceptual-training group (n = 10), or a control group (n = 9). The guided perceptual-training group received half of their trials with color cueing that highlighted either the key kinematic changes in the kicker's action or the known visual search strategy of expert goalkeepers. The unguided perceptual-training group undertook an equal number of trials of practice, but all trials were without guidance. The control group undertook no training intervention. All participants completed an anticipation test immediately before and after the 7-day training intervention, as well as a 24-hr retention test. RESULTS: The guided perceptual-training group significantly improved their response accuracy for anticipating the direction of soccer penalty kicks from preintervention to postintervention, whereas no change in performance was evident at posttest for either the unguided perceptual-training group or the control group. The superior performance of the guided perceptual-training group was preserved in the retention test and was confirmed when relative changes in response time were controlled using a covariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Perceptual training supplemented with guiding information provides a level of improvement in perceptual anticipatory skill that is not seen without guidance.

The expert advantage in dynamic pattern recall persists across both attended and unattended display elements.

We examined how differences in attention influence how expert and novice basketball players encode into memory the specific structural information contained within patterns of play from their sport. Our participants were primed during a typical recall task to focus attention on either attacking or defending player formations before being asked to recall the attended or unattended portion of the pattern. Adherence to the instructional set was confirmed through an analysis of gaze distributions. Recall performance was superior for the experts relative to the novices across both the attended and unattended attacking and defensive pattern structures. Expert recall of attacker positions was unchanged with and without attention, whereas recall accuracy for the positions of defenders diminished without attention, as did the novices' recall of both attack and defense formations. The findings suggest that experienced performers are better than novices at encoding the elements from a complex and dynamic pattern in the absence of focused attention, with this advantage being especially evident in relation to the recall of attacking structure. Some revision of long-term memory theories of expertise will be necessary to accommodate these findings.

Is the relationship between pattern recall and decision-making influenced by anticipatory recall?

The present study compared traditional measures of pattern recall to measures of anticipatory recall and decision-making to examine the underlying mechanisms of expert pattern perception and to address methodological limitations in previous studies where anticipatory recall has generally been overlooked. Recall performance in expert and novice basketball players was measured by examining the spatial error in recalling player positions both for a target image (traditional recall) and at 40-ms increments following the target image (anticipatory recall). Decision-making performance was measured by comparing the participant's response to those identified by a panel of expert coaches. Anticipatory recall was observed in the recall task and was significantly more pronounced for the experts, suggesting that traditional methods of spatial recall analysis may not have provided a completely accurate determination of the full magnitude of the experts' superiority. Accounting for anticipatory recall also increased the relative contribution of recall skill to decision-making accuracy although the gains in explained variance were modest and of debatable functional significance.