A Commentary on:

Commentary: Long-term Practice with Domain-Specific Task Constraints Influences

Perceptual Skills

by Yiannaki, C., Carling, C., and Collins, D. (2018). Front. Psychol. 9:1214. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.

2018.0121

Damian Farrow

Derek Panchuk

Fabio Rubens Serpiello

Luca Oppici

Frontiers in Psychology

English

Oppici, Luca

Panchuk, Derek

Serpiello, Fabio

Farrow, Damian

Victoria University Institutional Repository (VUIR)

Response: Commentary: Long-term Practice with Domain-Specific Task Constraints Influences Perceptual Skills

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GENERAL COMMENTARYpublished: 29 January 2019doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00085Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 1 January 2019 | Volume 10 | Article 85Edited by:Duarte Araújo,Universidade de Lisboa, PortugalReviewed by:Sean Müller,Murdoch University, Australia*Correspondence:Luca Oppiciluca.oppici@vu.edu.auSpecialty section:This article was submitted toMovement Science and SportPsychology,a section of the journalFrontiers in PsychologyReceived: 08 November 2018Accepted: 11 January 2019Published: 29 January 2019Citation:Oppici L, Panchuk D, Serpiello FR andFarrow D (2019) Response:Commentary: Long-term Practice withDomain-Specific Task ConstraintsInfluences Perceptual Skills.Front. Psychol. 10:85.doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00085Response: Commentary: Long-termPractice with Domain-Specific TaskConstraints Influences PerceptualSkillsLuca Oppici 1*, Derek Panchuk 1, Fabio Rubens Serpiello 1 and Damian Farrow 1,21 Institute for Health and Sport, Victoria University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 2Movement Science, Australian Institute ofSport, Canberra, ACT, AustraliaKeywords: transfer, representative design, futsal, soccer, talent developmentA Commentary onCommentary: Long-term Practice with Domain-Specific Task Constraints InfluencesPerceptual Skillsby Yiannaki, C., Carling, C., and Collins, D. (2018). Front. Psychol. 9:1214. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01214We are glad that our original article “Long-term practice with domain-specific task constraintsinfluences perceptual skills” (Oppici et al., 2017) has sparked an interesting debate in theskill acquisition field. Yiannaki et al. (2018) recently published a commentary on our articlediscussing the results in relation to skill transfer from futsal to football, raising questions aboutthe experimental task adopted, and providing recommendations for future research on this topic.In this reply to their commentary, we clarify some aspects that the authors may have misinterpretedand provide our comments in relation to the examination of skill transfer.First, it is critical to place our original study in the right context to meaningfully interpretits results. In this study, we did not examine skill transfer from futsal to soccer but, instead,how practicing the passing skill in futsal or soccer influences the development of perceptualbehavior underpinning passing. While it is known that skill similarities promote skill transfer(Magill, 2011) and Yiannaki et al. suggest measuring futsal-soccer similarities to infer skill transfer,we did not evaluate and had no interest in evaluating how futsal-soccer skill similarities maypromote skill transfer between the two sports. On the contrary, following the constraints-ledapproach (Newell, 1986; Davids et al., 2008 [see also Higgins, 1977 for a different perspectiveon constraints and human behavior]), we evaluated how differences in behavior emerge whenindividuals practice a skill with different task constraints. Therefore, our study should be consideredfrom this perspective, and interpretations on how our study provided preliminary evidence on skilltransfer are rather speculative and should be considered with caution. On this, Yiannaki et al. stated“additional research is needed before these findings can be used to inform the potential use of futsalas a skill development tool for 11-aside soccer” (Yiannaki et al., 2018). We could not agree morewith this statement, considering that we did not assess and present any results concerning skilltransfer (for studies examining skill transfer from futsal to soccer see Oppici et al., 2018a,b).Second, a clear understanding of the representative design concept, and a clear differentiationbetween representative design and ecological validity can clarify some of the issues that Yiannakiet al. raised regarding the experimental task we designed. The authors argued that our experimentaltask (i.e., 5 vs. 5 + goalkeeper game) was not representative because the number of players wasdifferent to the “real” game and some rules, such as the offside rule, were excluded. However, a taskOppici et al. Response to Commentarydoes not necessarily need to fully replicate an environment (e.g.,a soccer game) to be representative of a skill performed in thatenvironment. In this sense, representative (experimental) designrefers to the sampling of key constraints in an experiment sothat they represent the behavioral setting to which an observedbehavior is intended to be generalized (Brunswik, 1955; Dhamiet al., 2004). Germane to the investigation of how perceptionsupports action (as our study purported to do), the informationalconstraints that guide the self-organization of a movement (e.g.,the passing action) are the key constraints that need to berepresented (Pinder et al., 2011; Davids et al., 2012). In thecontext of passing, informational constraints emerge from theinteraction of a passer with their teammates and opponents,and between teammates and opponents (Travassos et al., 2012;Corrêa et al., 2014). Our 5 vs. 5 + goalkeeper task includedthe key constraints—opponents and teammates—that shape theemergence of passing information during games, and we haveused the average individual playing area that typically occursin the two sports to differentiate the futsal and soccer tasks.Therefore, our task can be considered representative of shortpassing skill in the two sports.Furthermore, Yiannaki et al. suggested the use of “authentic”futsal and soccer games as experimental contexts to increasethe ecological validity and, in turn, generalization of the resultsto the two sports. While agreeing that future research shouldimprove the generalizability of results to futsal and soccer, weargue that ecological validity is not the key for improving thegeneralization of the results of an experiment but, instead, itis the representative design. Ecological validity is the relationbetween a perceptual variable and a distal criterion state inthe environment (Brunswik, 1956). The ecological validity ofa ball or a teammate does not improve from a modified 5vs. 5 to an 11 vs. 11 soccer game. In both contexts, a playercan infer what the ball affords (in terms of possible actions)from the direct perception of the ball. As previously stated,representative design is concerned with the generalization ofresults (for a thorough explanation of how these two conceptsdiffer see Araújo et al., 2007). Therefore, future research shouldcarefully sample the constraints toward which a player’s behavioris intended to be generalized. Given that sampling constraintsin their entirety is rarely achievable when assessing an athlete’sperception (Mann and Savelsbergh, 2015), future research shouldclearly acknowledge what constraints an observed behaviorcan be generalized to (for an example see Oppici et al.,2018a).Lastly, we must clarify that futsal is not simply a small-sided soccer game (as Yiannaki et al. stated) and we providerecommendations for future research on skill transfer. Variouselements, such as the futsal ball, the playing surface and thesubstitution rule differentiate futsal and soccer and make futsalunique. Therefore, futsal needs to be considered in its entiretywhen discussed as a developmental activity for promoting talentdevelopment in soccer. In regard to future research, we agreewith the authors that further research is needed to betterclarify skill transfer. However, we do not entirely agree withthe authors’ suggestions on how to evaluate transfer, i.e., usingperformance analysis and measuring the qualitative perceptionof stakeholders. Certainly, performance analysis allows themeasurement of a player’s behavior in their typical environment(i.e., the game); however, a comparison of soccer and futsalwould not evaluate whether a player can transfer their skill to theother sport. Transfer is evaluated on performance achievement(Araújo and Davids, 2015), and futsal players have to performa task in soccer to assess whether their previous experience infutsal promotes behavior functionality (thus positive transfer)in soccer. The design of an appropriate soccer task will createsome challenges (we provided an option) but it essential for theevaluation of skill transfer. Related to how transfer is evaluated,it is unclear how qualitative measures, as suggested by theauthors, can provide evidence of skill transfer. In conclusion,we appreciate the Yiannaki et al. commentary, as a constructivedebate can improve the examination of hot topics like thetransfer of skill from futsal to football. However, a number ofcommentaries have now been published on this topic and we lookforward to seeing new empirical evidence that clarifies how skillmay transfer from futsal to soccer.AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONSAll authors listed have made a substantial, direct and intellectualcontribution to the work, and approved it for publication.FUNDINGThis work was partially funded by the 2015 UEFAResearch GrantProgramme.REFERENCESAraújo, D., and Davids, K. (2015). Towards a theoretically-driven model ofcorrespondence between behaviours in one context to another: implicationsfor studying sport performance. Int. J. Sport Psychol. 46, 745–757.doi: 10.7352/IJSP.2015.46.745Araújo, D., Davids, K., and Passos, P. (2007). Ecological validity, representativedesign, and correspondence between experimental task constraints andbehavioral setting: comment on Rogers, Kadar, and Costall (2005). Ecol.Psychol. 19, 69–78. doi: 10.1080/10407410709336951Brunswik, E. (1955). Representative design and probabilistic theory in afunctional psychology. Psychol. Rev. 62, 193–217. doi: 10.1037/h0047470Brunswik, E. (ed.). (1956). Perception and the Representative Design of PsychologicalExperiments. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Corrêa, U. C., Vilar, L., Davids, K., and Renshaw, I. (2014). Informationalconstraints on the emergence of passing direction in the team sportof futsal. Eur. J. Sport Sci. 14, 169–176. doi: 10.1080/17461391.2012.730063Davids, K., Araújo, D., Hristovski, R., Passos, P., and Chow, J. Y. (2012).“Ecological dynamics and motor learning design in sport,” in Skill Acquisitionin Sport: Research, Theory and Practice, 2nd Edn, eds N. J. Hodges and A. M.Williams (London: Routledge), 112–130.Davids, K., Button, C., and Bennett, S. (eds.). (2008). Dynamics of SkillAcquisition: A Constraints-Led Approach. Champaign, IL: HumanKinetics.Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 2 January 2019 | Volume 10 | Article 85Oppici et al. Response to CommentaryDhami, M. K., Hertwig, R., and Hoffrage, U. (2004). The role of representativedesign in an ecological approach to cognition. Psychol. Bull. 130, 959–988.doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.130.6.959Higgins, J. R. (ed.). (1977). Human Movement: An Integrated Approach. SaintLouis, MO: Mosby Company.Magill, R. A. (ed.). (2011). “Transfer of learning,” in Motor Learning and Control:Concepts and Applications, 9th Edn, (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill), 289–305.Mann, D. L., and Savelsbergh, G. J. P. (2015). “Issues in the measurement ofanticipation,” in Routledge Handbook of Sport Expertise, eds J. Baker and D.Farrow (London: Routledge), 166–175.Newell, K. M. (1986). “Constraints on the development of coordination,” inMotor Development in Children: Aspects of Coordination and Control, edsM. G. Wade and H.T.A. Whiting (Boston, MA: Martinus Nijhoff), 341–360.doi: 10.1007/978-94-009-4460-2_19Oppici, L., Panchuk, D., Serpiello, F. R., and Farrow, D. (2017). Long-termpractice with domain-specific task constraints influences perceptual skills.Front. Psychol. 8:1387. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01387Oppici, L., Panchuk, D., Serpiello, F. R., and Farrow, D. (2018a). Futsal taskconstraints promote transfer of passing skill to soccer task constraints. Eur. J.Sport Sci. 18, 947–954. doi: 10.1080/17461391.2018.1467490Oppici, L., Panchuk, D., Serpiello, F. R., and Farrow, D. (2018b). The influence ofa modified ball on transfer of passing skill in soccer. Psychol. Sport Exerc. 39,63–71. doi: 10.1016/j.psychsport.2018.07.015Pinder, R. A., Davids, K., Renshaw, I., and Araújo, D. (2011).Representative learning design and functionality of research andpractice in sport. J. Sport Exerc. Psychol. 33, 146–155. doi: 10.1123/jsep.33.1.146Travassos, B., Araújo, D., Davids, K., Esteves, P. T., and Fernandes, O. (2012).Improving passing actions in team sports by developing interpersonalinteractions between players. Int. J. Sports Sci. Coach. 7, 677–688.doi: 10.1260/1747-9541.7.4.677Yiannaki, C., Carling, C., and Collins, D. (2018). Commentary: long-term practicewith domain-specific task constraints influences perceptual skills. Front.Psychol. 9:1214. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01214Conflict of Interest Statement: The authors declare that the research wasconducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that couldbe construed as a potential conflict of interest.Copyright © 2019 Oppici, Panchuk, Serpiello and Farrow. This is an open-accessarticle distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CCBY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, providedthe original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the originalpublication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice.No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with theseterms.Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 3 January 2019 | Volume 10 | Article 85

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Response: Commentary: Long-term Practice with Domain-Specific Task Constraints Influences Perceptual Skills

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