The effect of task load, information reliability and interdependency on anticipation performance.

In sport, coaches often explicitly provide athletes with stable contextual information related to opponent action preferences to enhance anticipation performance. This information can be dependent on, or independent of, dynamic contextual information that only emerges during the sequence of play (e.g. opponent positioning). The interdependency between contextual information sources, and the associated cognitive demands of integrating information sources during anticipation, has not yet been systematically examined. We used a temporal occlusion paradigm to alter the reliability of contextual and kinematic information during the early, mid- and final phases of a two-versus-two soccer anticipation task. A dual-task paradigm was incorporated to investigate the impact of task load on skilled soccer players' ability to integrate information and update their judgements in each phase. Across conditions, participants received no contextual information (control) or stable contextual information (opponent preferences) that was dependent on, or independent of, dynamic contextual information (opponent positioning). As predicted, participants used reliable contextual and kinematic information to enhance anticipation. Further exploratory analysis suggested that increased task load detrimentally affected anticipation accuracy but only when both reliable contextual and kinematic information were available for integration in the final phase. This effect was observed irrespective of whether the stable contextual information was dependent on, or independent of, dynamic contextual information. Findings suggest that updating anticipatory judgements in the final phase of a sequence of play based on the integration of reliable contextual and kinematic information requires cognitive resources.

Early identification of the opposition shot taker characterises elite goalkeepers' ability to read the game.

Researchers investigating expertise in soccer goalkeepers have overwhelmingly focused on anticipating penalty kicks and identifying kinematic cues that are used to anticipate action outcomes. In this study, we took a novel approach to exploring 'game reading' skills in soccer goalkeepers. Specifically, we investigated whether and by what point during an attacking sequence in open play, elite goalkeepers can identify the opposition shot taker, a skill that is likely to facilitate organisation of the defensive line and interception of forward creative attacking passes. We used a moving window temporal occlusion paradigm to present elite, sub-elite, and amateur goalkeepers with 11-vs-11 attacking sequences that were divided into progressive segments. After viewing each segment, participants identified the player they thought would shoot at goal at the end of the attacking sequence. Elite goalkeepers identified the opposition shot taker earlier and more accurately than sub-elite and amateur participants. Findings suggest that elite goalkeeping is underpinned not only by anticipation of action outcomes but also game-reading skill that enables identification of the player most likely to carry out those actions.

Corticospinal and spinal responses following a single session of lower limb motor skill and resistance training.

Prior studies suggest resistance exercise as a potential form of motor learning due to task-specific corticospinal responses observed in single sessions of motor skill and resistance training. While existing literature primarily focuses on upper limb muscles, revealing a task-dependent nature in eliciting corticospinal responses, our aim was to investigate such responses after a single session of lower limb motor skill and resistance training. Twelve participants engaged in a visuomotor force tracking task, self-paced knee extensions, and a control task. Corticospinal, spinal, and neuromuscular responses were measured using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS). Assessments occurred at baseline, immediately post, and at 30-min intervals over two hours. Force steadiness significantly improved in the visuomotor task (P < 0.001). Significant fixed-effects emerged between conditions for corticospinal excitability, corticospinal inhibition, and spinal excitability (all P < 0.001). Lower limb motor skill training resulted in a greater corticospinal excitability compared to resistance training (mean difference [MD] = 35%, P < 0.001) and control (MD; 37%, P < 0.001). Motor skill training resulted in a lower corticospinal inhibition compared to control (MD; - 10%, P < 0.001) and resistance training (MD; - 9%, P < 0.001). Spinal excitability was lower following motor skill training compared to control (MD; - 28%, P < 0.001). No significant fixed effect of Time or Time*Condition interactions were observed. Our findings highlight task-dependent corticospinal responses in lower limb motor skill training, offering insights for neurorehabilitation program design.

Henri Cochet's theory of angles in tennis (1933) reveals a new facet of anticipation.

In this study, we tested the theory of angles that was proposed almost a century ago by the tennis player Henri Cochet. This theory proposes that expert tennis players should position themselves on the bisector of the angle of the opponent's possibilities in order to optimize shot return, suggesting a geometric occupation of the court relative to the opponent's affordances; namely what he/she is capable of doing. We tested this hypothesis by analysing player and ball positioning data from professional tennis matches recorded with a Hawk-Eye system. We compared this hypothesis with two alternative computational and probabilistic hypotheses which would consist in positioning oneself on the average or the median of the shots usually played from a given location. The results show that expert tennis players apply the principles of the theory of angles and thus confirm Henri Cochet's intuition. That is, for lateral court positioning, a geometric strategy is deemed optimal by expert players. It also appears that the more experienced the players are, the more precise their application of this strategy becomes.

Corticospinal and spinal adaptations following lower limb motor skill training: a meta-analysis with best evidence synthesis.

Motor skill training alters the human nervous system; however, lower limb motor tasks have been less researched compared to upper limb tasks. This meta-analysis with best evidence synthesis aimed to determine the cortical and subcortical responses that occur following lower limb motor skill training, and whether these responses are accompanied by improvements in motor performance. Following a literature search that adhered to the PRISMA guidelines, data were extracted and analysed from six studies (n = 172) for the meta-analysis, and 11 studies (n = 257) were assessed for the best evidence synthesis. Pooled data indicated that lower limb motor skill training increased motor performance, with a standardised mean difference (SMD) of 1.09 being observed. However, lower limb motor skill training had no effect on corticospinal excitability (CSE), Hoffmann's reflex (H-reflex) or muscle compound action potential (MMAX) amplitude. The best evidence synthesis found strong evidence for improved motor performance and reduced short-interval cortical inhibition (SICI) following lower limb motor skill training, with conflicting evidence towards the modulation of CSE. Taken together, this review highlights the need for further investigation on how motor skill training performed with the lower limb musculature can modulate corticospinal responses. This will also help us to better understand whether these neuronal measures are underpinning mechanisms that support an improvement in motor performance.

The effect of attentional focus instructions on performance and technique in a complex open skill.

External focus of attention has been shown to promote more automatic motor control, yielding better performance and more efficient technique, than an internal focus. However, most research has used closed-skill tasks in novices. The extent to which the reported pattern of findings generalises to more complex, time-constrained tasks requires further investigation. In this study, we investigated the effect of attentional focus instructions on performance and technique in an open-skill task in skilled performers. Thirteen skilled cricket batters batted from a ball projector in four conditions, receiving instructions to focus on the movement of their hands (internal focus), the movement of their bat (proximal external focus), the flight of the ball (distal external focus), or no instruction (control). Performance and technique were measured by quality of bat-ball contacts and step length/knee flexion, respectively, whilst playing straight drives. Compared to external focus and control conditions, focusing internally yielded significantly worse batting performance and shorter step lengths, with the largest effects observed between internal and distal external focus conditions. Quality of bat-ball contact data suggested that participants' ability to protect the wicket (as evidenced by more miss/edge shots) was more negatively affected by focusing internally than their ability to play shots to score runs (as evidenced by fewer good bat-ball contacts). Findings suggest that, for skilled performance of open-skill tasks, a distal external focus yields more effective performance and technique compared with focusing internally. Findings highlight the need for further research on attentional focus effects between different skills within specific sports.Highlights A distal external focus of attention enhances performance and technique of skilled cricket batters compared with an internal focus.Providing skilled batters with no instructions yields similar performance benefits to distal external focus instructions.Focusing internally differentially negatively affects skilled cricket batters depending on the strategic intention of the shot being played (e.g. protecting the wicket vs attempting to score runs).

The effect of equipment modification on the performance of novice junior cricket batters.

Equipment scaling has yielded better performance in children in comparison to using adult equipment. To better inform applied practice in junior sport, an investigation of additional equipment modifications designed to further simplify the task is required. This study, therefore, aims to determine the effect of increasing surface area of cricket equipment (bats and balls) on batting performance and technique. Forty-three children (M age = 5.2, SD = 0.8 years) completed a cricket batting task in which they aimed to hit the ball through a target zone while using either regular-scaled, or modified bat and ball with an increased surface area. The number of bat-ball contacts was significantly higher when using the modified (M = 13.81, SE = 0.42) compared to the regular-scaled ball (M = 10.65, SE = 0.49). Batting performance measured as shots played through target areas was also significantly higher when using the modified (M = 31.78, SE = 1.97) than the regular-scaled ball (M = 28.85, SE = 2.27). More desirable technique was also observed when using the modified compared to the regular bat. Findings suggest that further modifications to regular-scaled equipment can enhance skill production.

The effect of consistent and varied follow-through practice schedules on learning a table tennis backhand.

In table tennis the follow-through action after a shot is an important part of skill execution. In this experiment, we aimed to extend literature around the contextual interference effect by investigating whether the way the follow-through is organised in practice affects learning of the backhand shot in table tennis. Thirty unskilled participants were allocated to blocked-variable practice, random-variable practice or a control-constant group and aimed backhand shots towards a target following ball projection from a machine. Each group completed these shots in a pre-test, a training phase with follow-through manipulations, a post-test, and a retention test. The random-variable group improved their shot accuracy from pre-test to post-test and from pre-test to retention test (both P < 0.01, d = 1.03), whereas neither the blocked-variable nor the control-constant group displayed any change in shot accuracy. Practising the follow-through in a random-variable fashion enhanced learning of the preceding shot compared with blocked-variable practice or no follow-through instructions. The benefits of learning motor skills under conditions of high contextual interference also apply to how follow-through actions are organised. The findings are valuable to coaches and suggest that instructions related to the follow-through action should be considered as well as the primary skill itself.

Classification Videos Reveal the Visual Information Driving Complex Real-World Speeded Decisions.

Humans can rapidly discriminate complex scenarios as they unfold in real time, for example during law enforcement or, more prosaically, driving and sport. Such decision-making improves with experience, as new sources of information are exploited. For example, sports experts are able to predict the outcome of their opponent's next action (e.g., a tennis stroke) based on kinematic cues "read" from preparatory body movements. Here, we explore the use of psychophysical classification-image techniques to reveal how participants interpret complex scenarios. We used sport as a test case, filming tennis players serving and hitting ground strokes, each with two possible directions. These videos were presented to novices and club-level amateurs, running from 0.8 s before to 0.2 s after racquet-ball contact. During practice, participants anticipated shot direction under a time limit targeting 90% accuracy. Participants then viewed videos through Gaussian windows ("bubbles") placed at random in the temporal, spatial or spatiotemporal domains. Comparing bubbles from correct and incorrect trials revealed how information from different regions contributed toward a correct response. Temporally, only later frames of the videos supported accurate responding (from ~0.05 s before ball contact to 0.1 s afterwards). Spatially, information was accrued from the ball's trajectory and from the opponent's head. Spatiotemporal bubbles again highlighted ball trajectory information, but seemed susceptible to an attentional cuing artifact, which may caution against their wider use. Overall, bubbles proved effective in revealing regions of information accrual, and could thus be applied to help understand choice behavior in a range of ecologically valid situations.

The role of contextual information during skilled anticipation.

In dynamic, temporally constrained tasks, individuals often need to anticipate what will happen next prior to information becoming available within the environment. In such situations, the availability of contextual information can facilitate anticipation, often in conjunction with postural information. While many researchers have identified the specific sources of postural information facilitating anticipation, few have investigated the specific sources of contextual information employed. In two experiments, we presented skilled and less-skilled tennis players with animations of rallies from real matches that omitted access to postural information from the opponent, constraining participants to anticipate based on contextual information alone. In Experiment 1, participants anticipated the outcome of an opponent's shot under three conditions in which the sequence length (i.e., number of shots in a rally) preceding the same occluded shot was varied. Participants anticipated shot direction more accurately when the preceding shot sequence was presented than not. In Experiment 2, we presented animations that depicted the ball, the players, or both, in either dynamic or still form. Those conditions in which only the ball was depicted yielded the lowest response accuracy scores. It appears that information from the player and ball motion is required to provide the context under which skilled performers can consciously pick up and utilise information to anticipate more accurately than their less-skilled counterparts.

Contextual information and perceptual-cognitive expertise in a dynamic, temporally-constrained task.

Skilled performers extract and process postural information from an opponent during anticipation more effectively than their less-skilled counterparts. In contrast, the role and importance of contextual information in anticipation has received only minimal attention. We evaluate the importance of contextual information in anticipation and examine the underlying perceptual-cognitive processes. We present skilled and less-skilled tennis players with normal video or animated footage of the same rallies. In the animated condition, sequences were created using player movement and ball trajectory data, and postural information from the players was removed, constraining participants to anticipate based on contextual information alone. Participants judged ball bounce location of the opponent's final occluded shot. The 2 groups were more accurate than chance in both display conditions with skilled being more accurate than less-skilled (Exp. 1) participants. When anticipating based on contextual information alone, skilled participants employed different gaze behaviors to less-skilled counterparts and provided verbal reports of thoughts which were indicative of more thorough evaluation of contextual information (Exp. 2). Findings highlight the importance of both postural and contextual information in anticipation and indicate that perceptual-cognitive expertise is underpinned by processes that facilitate more effective processing of contextual information, in the absence of postural information. (PsycINFO Database Record