Prior probability information impairs goalkeeper judgments of penalty kick direction [Abstract]

Conference abstract

Preperformance routines

Preperformance routine

Concentration

Concentratio

Hill on a mountaintop: a longitudinal study of the relative age effect in an English premier league soccer academy

Hill on a mountaintop: a longitudinal study of the relative age effect in an English premier league soccer academ

Deceptive body movements reverse spatial cueing in soccer

The purpose of the experiments was to analyse the spatial cueing effects of the movements of soccer players executing normal and deceptive (step-over) turns with the ball. Stimuli comprised normal resolution or point-light video clips of soccer players dribbling a football towards the observer then turning right or left with the ball. Clips were curtailed before or on the turn (−160, −80, 0 or +80 ms) to examine the time course of direction prediction and spatial cueing effects. Participants were divided into higher-skilled (HS) and lower-skilled (LS) groups according to soccer experience. In experiment 1, accuracy on full video clips was higher than on point-light but results followed the same overall pattern. Both HS and LS groups correctly identified direction on normal moves at all occlusion levels. For deceptive moves, LS participants were significantly worse than chance and HS participants were somewhat more accurate but nevertheless substantially impaired. In experiment 2, point-light clips were used to cue a lateral target. HS and LS groups showed faster reaction times to targets that were congruent with the direction of normal turns, and to targets incongruent with the direction of deceptive turns. The reversed cueing by deceptive moves coincided with earlier kinematic events than cueing by normal moves. It is concluded that the body kinematics of soccer players generate spatial cueing effects when viewed from an opponent's perspective. This could create a reaction time advantage when anticipating the direction of a normal move. A deceptive move is designed to turn this cueing advantage into a disadvantage. Acting on the basis of advance information, the presence of deceptive moves primes responses in the wrong direction, which may be only partly mitigated by delaying a response until veridical cues emerge

Expertise differences in identifying the direction of an opposing footballer’s moves: A behavioural and ERP study with point-light stimuli

Expertise differences in identifying the direction of an opposing footballer’s moves: A behavioural and ERP study with point-light stimul

Ritualized behavior in sport

We consider evidence for ritualized behavior in the sporting domain, noting that such behavior appears commonplace both before a competitive encounter and as part of pre-performance routines. The specific times when ritualized behaviors are displayed support the supposition that they provide temporary relief from pre-competition anxiety and act as thought suppressors in the moments preceding skill execution

Contextual factors influencing decision making: Perceptions of professional soccer players

Objectives: This study sought to explore highly-skilled soccer players’ perceptions of how contextual factors influence their decision making during matches. Design: A qualitative design was used in which individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight professional male soccer players aged between 18 and 22 years. Method: An interview schedule was designed to explore the perceived influence of a range of situational factors on decision making during matches. The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. The data were analysed via an inductive thematic analysis. Results: Seven themes were identified from the data. The four dynamic contextual themes were: (a) personal performance, (b) score status, (c) momentum, and (d) external/coach instructions. The three static contextual themes were: (a) match importance, (b) personal pressures, and (c) preparation. Conclusions: The results highlight the importance of considering the dynamic and static context within which highly-skilled soccer players make decisions

Deceptive actions bias responses and impair discriminability: Signal detection analysis of rugby sidesteps [Abstract]

Conference abstract

Don't bite! Earlier detection of deceptive intent facilitates skilled responses to rugby sidesteps [Abstract]

Conference abstract