A Developmental Embodied Choice Perspective Explains the Development of Numerical Choices

The goal of this paper is to explore how an embodied view can redirect our understanding of decision making. To achieve this goal, we contribute a developmental embodied choice perspective. Our perspective integrates embodiment and bounded rationality from a developmental view in which the body provides cues that are used in abstract choices. Hereby, the cues evolve with the body that is not static and changes through development. To demonstrate the body’s involvement in abstract choices, we will consider choices in numerical settings in which the body is not necessarily needed for the solution. For this, we consider the magnitude-judgment task in which one has to choose the larger of two magnitudes. In a nutshell, our perspective will pinpoint how the concept of embodied choices can explain the development of numerical choices

Movement Matters! Understanding the Developmental Trajectory of Embodied Planning

Human motor skills are exceptional compared to other species, no less than their cognitive skills. In this perspective paper, we suggest that “movement matters!,” implying that motor development is a crucial driving force of cognitive development, much more impactful than previously acknowledged. Thus, we argue that to fully understand and explain developmental changes, it is necessary to consider the interaction of motor and cognitive skills. We exemplify this argument by introducing the concept of “embodied planning,” which takes an embodied cognition perspective on planning development throughout childhood. From this integrated, comprehensive framework, we present a novel climbing paradigm as the ideal testbed to explore the development of embodied planning in childhood and across the lifespan. Finally, we outline future research directions and discuss practical applications of the work on developmental embodied planning for robotics, sports, and education

Elite players invest additional time for making better embodied choices

Expert athletes are determined to make faster and better decisions, as revealed in several simple heuristic studies using verbal reports or micro-movement responses. However, heuristic decision-making experiments that require motor responses, also being considered as the embodied-choice experiments, are still underrepresented. Furthermore, it is less understood how decision time and confidence depend on the type of embodied choices players make. To scrutinize the decision-making processes (i.e., decision time, decision confidence), this study investigated the embodied choices of male athletes with different expertise in a close-to-real-life environment; 22 elite (M age = 17.59 yrs., SD = 3.67), and 22 amateur (M age = 20.71 yrs., SD = 8.54) team handball players performed a sport-specific embodied-choice test. Attack sequences (n = 32) were shown to the players, who had to choose between four provided options by giving a respective sport-specific motor response. We analyzed the frequencies of specific choices and the best choice, as well as the respective decision time and decision confidence. Elite and amateur players differed in the frequencies of specific choices (i.e., forward/tackling; passive blocking), and elite players made the best choice more often. Slower decision times of elite players were revealed in specific choices and in best choices, the confidence of decisions was rated equally high by both player groups. Indications are provided that elite players make better choices rather slower, instead of faster. We suppose this is due to specific sensorimotor interactions and speed-accuracy-tradeoffs in favor of accuracy in elite players. Our findings extend expert decision-making research by using an embodied-choice paradigm, highlighting considerations of decision time and confidence in future experiments

An Embodied Cognition Perspective on the Role of Interoception in the Development of the Minimal Self

Interoception is an often neglected but crucial aspect of the human minimal self. In this perspective, we extend the embodiment account of interoceptive inference to explain the development of the minimal self in humans. To do so, we first provide a comparative overview of the central accounts addressing the link between interoception and the minimal self. Grounding our arguments on the embodiment framework, we propose a bidirectional relationship between motor and interoceptive states, which jointly contribute to the development of the minimal self. We present empirical findings on interoception in development and discuss the role of interoception in the development of the minimal self. Moreover, we make theoretical predictions that can be tested in future experiments. Our goal is to provide a comprehensive view on the mechanisms underlying the minimal self by explaining the role of interoception in the development of the minimal self

Linking self-efficacy and decision-making processes in developing soccer players

Objectives: In sports, adults with high self-efficacy have been shown to select their first option as the final choice more often in a dynamic decision-making test. Addressing the link between self-efficacy and decision making early in age could benefit the developmental potential of athletes. In this study, we examined the link between developing players’ decision self-efficacy and their decision-making processes comprising option generation and selection. Further, we explored the effect of time pressure on developing athletes’ decision making. Design: Developing athletes (N = 97) of two different age groups were asked to report their self-efficacy and to perform a dynamic decision-making task, in which time pressure was experimentally manipulated. Method: 48 younger (Mage = 8.76, SD = 1.15) and 49 older (Mage = 12.18, SD = 0.87) soccer players participated. Participants were randomly presented with video scenes of soccer match play. At the point of temporal occlusion, participants generated options about the next move. After generation, participants selected among the generated options their best option and indicated their decision and motor confidence. Results: The self-efficacy of developing players was neither related negatively to dynamic inconsistency nor positively to option or decision quality, but self-efficacy was positively related to motor confidence in the best option. Further, time pressure improved option and decision quality. Conclusion: Decision-making processes have been scrutinized by showing that developing players’ self-efficacy links to their motor skills rather than to their cognitive evaluation and by specifying the adaptation to time pressure. Thereby, results extend current theorizing on decision making

An embodied cognition perspective on the role of interoception in the development of the minimal self

Interoception is an often neglected but crucial aspect of the human minimal self. In this perspective, we extend the embodiment account of interoceptive inference to explain the development of the minimal self in humans. To do so, we first provide a comparative overview of the central accounts addressing the link between interoception and the minimal self. Grounding our arguments on the embodiment framework, we propose a bidirectional relationship between motor and interoceptive states, which jointly contribute to the development of the minimal self. We present empirical findings on interoception in development and discuss the role of interoception in the development of the minimal self. Moreover, we make theoretical predictions that can be tested in future experiments. Our goal is to provide a comprehensive view on the mechanisms underlying the minimal self by explaining the role of interoception in the development of the minimal self

A developmental perspective on option generation and selection

© 2018 American Psychological Association. Little is known about how children generate options for taking action in familiar situations or how they select which action option to actually perform. In this article, we explore the interplay between option generation and selection from a developmental perspective using sports as a testbed. In a longitudinal design with four measurement waves, we asked 6- to 13-year-old children (N = 73) to generate and select action options in a soccer-related task. Children generated and selected options in accordance with the predictions of the take-the-first heuristic, which served as a theoretical starting point: They generated only a few options in decreasing order of validity (i.e., better options were generated earlier) and selected the first options they had generated. Older children selected the first option generated more often than younger children and generated options faster. Longitudinal effects revealed that both age groups generated fewer options and faster across waves. Time limitation fostered fewer and higher quality options being generated and selected. Overall, our results highlight the importance of considering the predecisional process of option generation to deepen our understanding of developmental changes in decision-strategy use. Future research directions and implications for children's real-life decision making are discussed. ©American Psychological Association, 2019. This paper is not the copy of record and may not exactly replicate the authoritative document published in the APA journal. Please do not copy or cite without author's permission. The final article is available, upon publication, at: 10.1037/dev000066

The role of domain-specific and domain-general cognitive functions and skills in sports performance: A meta-analysis

Cognition plays a key role in sports performance. In this meta-analytic review, we synthesize research that has examined the relationship between cognitive functions, skills, and sports performance. We identified literature by searching Cochrane library, PsychInfo, Pubmed, and Web of Science. We included studies conducted on competitive athletes, assessed cognitive prerequisites, and included performance measures related to the sport. Of the 9433 screened records, 136 reports were included, containing 142 studies, 1227 effect sizes, and 8860 participants. Only 11 studies used a prospective study design. The risk of bias was assessed using The Risk of Bias Assessment Tool for Nonrandomized Studies. The multilevel meta- analysis showed a medium effect size for the overall difference in cognitive functions and skills, with higher-skilled athletes scoring better than lower-skilled athletes (Hedges’ g = 0.59, 95% CI [0.49, 0.69]). The moderator analysis showed larger effect size for tests of cognitive decision-making skills (g = 0.77, 95% CI [0.6, 0.94]) compared to basic (g = 0.39, 95% CI [0.21, 0.56]) and higher cognitive functions (g = 0.44, 95% CI [0.26, 0.62]), as well as larger effect size for sport-specific task-stimuli compared to general ones. We report that higher-skilled athletes perform better on tests of cognitive function compared to lower-skilled athletes. There was insufficient evidence to determine whether cognitive functions and skills can predict future sport performance. We found no evidence to support claims that tests of general cognitive functions, such as executive functioning, should be used by practitioners for talent identification or player selection

Movement-specific reinvestment in older people explains past falls and predicts future error-prone movements

The tendency to think about or consciously control automated movements (i.e., movement-specific reinvestment) is a crucial factor associated with falling in the elderly. We tested whether elderly people’s movement-specific reinvestment depended on their past falling history and whether it can predict future error-prone movements. In a longitudinal pre-post design, we assessed n = 21 elderly people’s (Mage = 84.38 years, SD = 5.68) falling history, movement-specific reinvestment (i.e., Movement-Specific Reinvestment Scale), and physical functioning (i.e., Short-Physical-Performance Battery). Following a baseline assessment, participants reported their movement behavior in a daily diary for 2 months, after which we assessed their movement-specific reinvestment and physical functioning again (longitudinal, pre-post design). Results revealed, first, that participants’ movement self-consciousness score was fairly stable, while their conscious-motor-processing score was less stable. Second, conscious motor processing was higher in participants who had fallen as opposed to those who had not fallen in the past. Third, conscious motor processing predicted error-prone future movement behavior reported in the daily diary. For identifying individuals who are more prone to fall, caregivers, rehabilitation staff, or doctors could apply the Movement-Specific Reinvestment Scale to screen elderly people’s psychomotor behavior. Based on conscious motor processing, monitoring cognitions could be tailored in theory-based, individual interventions involving both cognitive and motor training