Anticipation skill in a real-world task: measurement,training, and transfer in tennis

Anticipation skill in tennis was examined using realistic film simulations, movement-based response measures, and a portable eye movement recording system. Skilled players were faster than their less skilled counterparts in anticipating the direction of opponents' tennis strokes, with this superior performance being based, at least in part, on more effective visual search behaviors. The processes mediating superior performance were then modeled in groups of recreational tennis players using video simulation, instruction, and feedback. Players who received perceptual training improved their performance on laboratory- and field-based tests of anticipation when compared with matched placebo and control groups that did not receive any instruction regarding expert performance strategies. The approach used may have practical utility in a variety of performance contexts.     

The effect of local kinematic changes on anticipation judgments

Skilled tennis players rely on a more global than local perceptual strategy when anticipating an opponent’s shot direction in tennis (Williams, Huys, Cañal-Bruland, & Hagemann, 2009). Global perceptual strategy refers to the pick-up of dynamic information across different body areas rather than from a single source such as the arm or racket. We extend previous work by examining the spatiotemporal characteristics of visual information pick-up when anticipating shot direction in tennis. We perturbed information from various body locations by interchanging the dynamics of selected areas with those from strokes played to the opposite side of the court. In addition, we presented each manipulation under four different temporal occlusion conditions (from 240 ms prior to racket-ball contact) to examine the time course of information extraction. Skilled tennis players outperformed less skilled counterparts in predicting shot direction, even at early phases of the opponent’s motion. Moreover, skilled players showed significant decrements in performance when the arms and racket were perturbed, highlighting the relevance of distal information when anticipating opponents’ intentions.     

Importance of head movements in gaze tracking during table tennis forehand stroke

The purpose of this study was to clarify the properties of gaze and head movements during forehand stroke in table tennis. Collegiate table tennis players (n = 12) conducted forehand strokes toward a ball launched by a skilled experimenter. A total of ten trials were conducted for the experimental task. Horizontal and vertical movements of the ball, gaze, head and eye were analyzed from the image recorded by an eye tracking device. The results showed that participants did not always keep their gaze and head position on the ball throughout the entire ball path. Our results indicate that table tennis players tend to gaze at the ball in the initial ball-tracking phase. Furthermore, there was a significant negative correlation between eye and head position especially in the vertical direction. This result suggests that horizontal VOR is suppressed more than vertical VOR in ball-tracking during table tennis forehand stroke. Finally, multiple regression analysis showed that the effect of head position to gaze position was significantly higher than that of eye position. This result indicates that gaze position during forehand stroke could be associated with head position rather than eye position. Taken together, head movements may play an important role in maintaining the ball in a constant egocentric direction in table tennis forehand stroke.     

Manual laterality and hitting performance in major league baseball.

Asymmetrical hand function was examined in the context of expert sports performance: hitting in professional baseball. An archival study was conducted to examine the batting performance of all Major League Baseball players from 1871 to 1992, focusing on those who batted left (n = 1,059) to neutralize the game asymmetry. Among them, left-handers (n = 421) were more likely to hit with power and to strike out than right-handers (n = 638). One possible account, based on the idea of hand dominance and an analogy to tennis, is that batting left involves a double-handed forehand for left-handers and a weaker and more reliable double-handed backhand for right-handers. The results are also interpretable in the light of Y. Guiard's (1987) kinematic chain model of a between-hands asymmetrical division of labor, which provides a detailed account of why left batting is optimal for left-handers.     

Skill level and graphical detail shape perceptual judgments in tennis

Reducing the representation of human actions from normal video to biological motion animation in perceptual tasks means removing a number of visual features from the scenery, thereby eliminating potentially useful information for successfully performing the task. To determine the impact of selected visual features on perceptual judgments in tennis, we invited skilled players and novices to predict baseline shot direction under four different display conditions (PL: point-light display; PL_TC: PL plus an animated tennis court; NV_NB: normal video without ball; NV: normal video). Skilled players clearly outperformed novices and prediction performance increased with more realistic display content. Both groups were similarly affected by display conditions and across groups significant differences between conditions were only found for PL vs NV, and PL_TC vs NV, respectively. Application of signal detection theory on response data revealed that, unlike novices, skilled players showed a bias towards preferentially expecting cross-court shots and this bias increased with enhancement in graphical detail. Results confirm previous research in that biological motion appears to provide the minimal essential information necessary for correctly predicting an opponent's intent, particularly in skilled players. In addition, findings indicate that a combination of player and scenery-related visual information is likely to facilitate visual anticipation; however, such information seems to impact skilled players' and novices' response behaviour differently.     

Influencer les jugements de l'adversaire au cours des interactions sportives compétitives : un exemple en tennis de table

This study analysed the masking activity of table tennis players, and any activity attempting to influence opponent's perceptions. We studied the activity of five French table tennis players during national matches in reference to the course of action theory (Theureau, 1992). Matches were videotaped, and the players' verbalizations as they viewed the tapes were collected a posteriori. The data were analysed by 1) transcribing the players' actions and verbalizations, 2) decomposing their activity into elementary units of meaning, and 3) analysing the meaningful structures of the course of action. The results showed that a large part of the table tennis players activity attempts to influence opponent's judgments. This activity aims to 1) modify the opponent's emotional experience, and 2) influence the opponent's perception of adversarial relationship. It is expressed through strokes and behaviors not related to the game. Our results lead to a new perspective of table tennis matches analysis in term of collective activity and “shared context” (Salembier and Zouinar, 2004).     

Visual search,anticipation, and reactive comparisons between highly-skilled and beginning tennis players

Abstract

Simulated tennis playing situations were created for the laboratory testing of visual search patterns, anticipation, reactions, and movements to compare male and female high-level and beginning players. Of particular interest was the degree to which each measure would differentiate the groups. Participants were highly-rated university players (N-30) and students enrolled in a beginning tennis class (N = 30). Under one testing condition, visual search patterns were recorded as they viewed filmed opponents serve (60 trials) and hit ground strokes (60 trials). Also recorded was anticipation accuracy and speed of the intended type and location of serves and the intended placement of ground strokes. In other testing, execution of a split step was followed by moving rapidly to the comet location for a simulated stroke in response to a series of light cues. Reaction and movement times were recorded. Discrimination analysis revealed that experts and beginners were most differentiated due to fixations on certain cues and predicting ball direction. As to visual search analysis of fixation duration for nine possible areas during the serves, only the head area was significant. Beginners directed more time toward the head region than did the highly skilled. Experts and novices had similar visual patterns with respect to ground strokes, and a few differences existed within the two female groups, in the two male groups. as well as between males and females. Anticipation measures for the serve indicated that experts were faster and more accurate than beginners, and males were faster than females. Ground stroke data revealed that the highly-skilled were faster and more accurate than novices. Finally, the simulated split-step data showed that reaction times and movement times were faster for the experts versus the beginners, and males were quicker in movement times than females.     

长期高策略性技能训练对运动员大脑白质结构的影响：一项DTI研究

目前关于运动员经验优势的脑机制还存在争议, 尤其对于涉及较多认知过程参与的高策略性技能项目运动员, 其大脑白质结构可塑性变化还需进一步探究。研究横向对比了乒乓球运动员和非运动员大脑白质纤维束的弥散张量成像数据。结果发现, 相比于非运动员, 乒乓球运动员在连接背侧和腹侧通路脑区的双侧皮质脊髓束、左侧上纵束、左侧下纵束和双侧额枕下束的各向异性值(FA)更大, 进一步分析发现, 部分腹侧通路白质纤维束FA增加的原因是径向扩散系数(RD)下降。研究结果支持了动作双通路模型。提示经过长期高策略性技能训练, 乒乓球运动员在背侧和腹侧通路上的白质纤维束结构完整性增强。     

Expertise and the perception of kinematic and situational probability information

Two experiments were conducted on the nature of expert perception in the sport of squash. In the first experiment, ten expert and fifteen novice players attempted to predict the direction and force of squash strokes from either a film display (occluded at variable time periods before and after the opposing player had struck the ball) or a matched point-light display (containing only the basic kinematic features of the opponent's movement pattern). Experts out-performed the novices under both display conditions, and the same basic time windows that characterised expert and novice pick-up of information in the film task also persisted in the point-light task. This suggests that the experts' perceptual advantage is directly related to their superior pick-up of essential kinematic information. In the second experiment, the vision of six expert and six less skilled players was occluded by remotely triggered liquid-crystal spectacles at quasi-random intervals during simulated match play. Players were required to complete their current stroke even when the display was occluded and their prediction performance was assessed with respect to whether they moved to the correct half of the court to match the direction and depth of the opponent's stroke. Consistent with experiment 1, experts were found to be superior in their advance pick-up of both directional and depth information when the display was occluded during the opponent's hitting action. However, experts also remained better than chance, and clearly superior to less skilled players, in their prediction performance under conditions where occlusion occurred before any significant pre-contact preparatory movement by the opposing player was visible. This additional source of expert superiority is attributable to their superior attunement to the information contained in the situational probabilities and sequential dependences within their opponent's pattern of play.     

On-court position and handedness in visual anticipation of stroke direction in tennis

ObjectivesIn racket sports, players integrate information picked up from their opponent's kinematics and contextual cues like on-court position into shot outcome anticipation. In view of suggested difficulties with anticipating left-handed opponents' action intentions, here we examined whether an opponent's handedness interacts with position-dependency in visual anticipation.Design and methodFollowing a 2 (Group) x 2 (Handedness) x 2 (Position) x 3 (Temporal Occlusion) factorial design, 20 tennis players and 20 non-players predicted directional outcome of temporally manipulated point-light animations of identical left- and right-handed forehand groundstrokes performed near vs. far from the court's midline.ResultsTennis players' response selection was mostly affected by an opponent's on-court position, particularly at an early stage of a hitting movement. Opponents' handedness affected response selection similarly in both groups (i.e., bias towards down-the-line predictions against left-handed strokes occluded at racket-ball-contact), but it did not interact with on-court position.ConclusionsFindings highlight that on-court position, and opponents' handedness to some extent as well, appears relevant for skilled visual anticipation in tennis.     

Anticipation of ball location in low and high-skill performers: a developmental perspective

Objectives: To study how visual anticipatory capabilities develop in high and low-skill tennis players and the role of years of practice (i.e. experience). It was expected that with accumulated experience differences will increase with skill-level, in particular under conditions of fast visual exposure which results in minimal environmental information exposure.Method: Eighty tennis players divided into 4 age categories and 2 skill levels (high and low) were selected according to 4 criterion which ensured appropriate representation of skill-level and experience in tennis. Age categories were 8–11, 11–14, 14–18, and >18. Years of experience in the game were 2.12, 4.17, 6.5, and 12.4 years respectively. Players observed filmed segments of tennis strokes on a monitor, which varied in temporal occlusion conditions from −480 ms prior to ball-racquet contact to 320 ms after contact. After each exposure they were asked to indicate the final ball location. The radial, lateral, and depth distances were averaged for age and skill level.Design: A temporal occlusion paradigm was used in this study. The film was prepared with a camera positioned in the receiver's court. Eight strokes which best represent the game of tennis were chosen. Forty-eight segments were viewed and errors were calculated for each exposure.Result: High-skill tennis players gained more from practice and experience in developing visual anticipatory skills, but their perceptual advantage was not consistent across all stroke conditions, being at its greatest number in conditions of maximal temporal constraints.Conclusions: Differences in visual anticipatory capabilities exist between different skill levels at the outset of their development. These differences increase with experience, mainly after 6–7 years. Greater knowledge base does not always guarantee a superior anticipation of upcoming events and choosing the best decision.     

The Effectiveness of Situational Awareness Learning in Response to Video Tennis Match Situations

The purpose of the study was to examine the effectiveness of specially designed instructions on tennis match play training on situation awareness (SA), anticipation (A), and decision-making (DM). Response speed and accuracy measures were taken in videoed match play tennis situations and the effect of perceptual skills training on these behaviors was recorded in a primary and two related tennis situations. Intermediate tennis players (N = 59, M = 21.75 years old, SD = 4.96) were randomly assigned to one of five groups. After receiving instructions, participants responded to a series of edited video clips. A 5 × 3 × 3 (Groups × Condition x Shot Type) repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted to determine differences in perceptual training and learning strategies across three conditions and multiple shot types. Findings indicated that combinational SA/A/DM perceptual training effectively improved performance; however, no difference was found between implicit and explicit learning strategies. Future research possibilities and applied implications are discussed.     

Expert-novice differences in cognitive and execution skills during tennis competition

This study deals with decision and execution behavior of tennis players during competition. The study is based on the expert-novice paradigm and aims to identify differences between both groups in the decision-making and execution variables in serve and shot actions in tennis. Six expert players (elite Spanish tennis players) and six novice players (grade school tennis players) took part in this study. To carry out this study, the observation protocol defined by McPherson and Thomas in 1989, in which control, decision-making and execution variables were included, was used, where it was applied to the performance of the tennis player in a real match situation. In the analysis, significant differences between experts and novices in decision-making and execution variables are found wherein it can be observed that experts display a greater ability to make the appropriate decisions, selecting the most tactical responses to put pressure on the opponent. Expert tennis players were also able to carry out forceful executions to their opponent with greater efficiency, making the opponent's response to a large extent more difficult. These findings are in accordance with those of McPherson and colleagues.     

Skilled players’ and novices’ difficulty anticipating left- vs. right-handed opponents’ action intentions varies across different points in time

A left-handers’ performance advantage in interactive sports is assumed to result from their relative rarity compared to right-handers. Part of this advantage may be explained by athletes facing difficulties anticipating left-handers’ action intentions, particularly when anticipation is based on kinematic cues available at an early stage of an opponent’s movement. Here we tested whether the type of volleyball attack is predicted better against right- vs. left-handed opponents’ movements and whether such handedness effects are evident at earlier time points in skilled players than novices. In a video-based experiment volleyball players and novices predicted the type of shot (i.e., smash vs. lob) of left- and right-handed volleyball attacks occluded at six different time points. Overall, right-handed attacks were better anticipated than left-handed attacks, volleyball players outperformed novices, and performance improved in later occlusion conditions. Moreover, in skilled players the handedness effect was most pronounced when attacks were occluded 480 ms prior to hand-ball-contact, whereas in novices it was most evident 240 ms prior to hand-ball-contact. Our findings provide further evidence of the effect of an opponent’s handedness on action outcome anticipation and suggest that its occurrence in the course of an opponent’s unfolding action likely depends on an observers’ domain-specific skill.     

Do expertise and the degree of perception-action coupling affect natural anticipatory performance?

Two experiments using a temporal occlusion paradigm (the first with expert and novice participants and the second with participants of intermediate skill) were conducted to examine the capability of tennis players to predict the direction of an opponent's service in situ. In both experiments two different response conditions, reflecting differing degrees of perception-action coupling, were employed. In a coupled condition players were required to make a movement-based response identical to that which they would use to hit a return of service in a game situation, whereas in an uncoupled condition a verbal prediction of service direction was required. Experiment 1 provided clear evidence of superior prediction accuracy under the coupled response condition when ball flight was available, plus some limited evidence to suggest that superior prediction accuracy under uncoupled response conditions might hold true if only advance (pre-contact) information was available. Experiment 2 showed the former finding to be a robust one, but was unable to reveal any support for the latter. Experiment 1 also revealed that expert superiority is more apparent for predictions made under natural (coupled) than uncoupled response-mode conditions. Collectively, these findings suggest that different perceptual processes may be in operation in anticipatory tasks which depend on skill level, the type of information presented, and degree of perception-action coupling inherent in the task requirements.     

Cognitive Bias for the Distribution of Ball Landing Positions in Amateur Tennis Players (Cognitive Bias for the Motor Variance in Tennis)

This study aimed to investigate whether the isotropy bias (estimating one's own motor variance as an approximately circular distribution rather than a vertically elongated distribution) arises in tennis players for the estimation of the two-dimensional variance for forehand strokes in tennis (Experiment 1), as well as the process underlying the isotropy bias (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, 31 tennis players were asked to estimate prospectively their distribution of ball landing positions. They were then instructed to hit 50 forehand strokes. We compared the eccentricity of the ellipse calculated from estimated and observed landing positions. Eccentricity was significantly smaller in the estimated ellipse than in the observed ellipse. We assumed that the isotropy bias for the estimated ellipse comes from the process of variance estimation. In Experiment 2, nine participants estimated the 95% confidence interval of 300 dots. Eccentricity was significantly smaller in their estimated ellipses than it was in the ellipses for the dots, though the magnitude of bias decreased for the estimation of dots. These results suggest that the isotropy bias in tennis ball landing position includes the bias of recognizing landing position and the bias of estimating the ellipse confidence interval from the recognized landing position.     

Effect of tactical initiative on predicting passing shots in tennis

This study aimed to demonstrate that one of the main sources of information that tennis players use to anticipate their opponents' strokes is prior knowledge of the upcoming events likely to develop when the player has the opportunity to impose his or her playing intent. Seventeen experienced male players were faced with simulated on‐court situations with three different delivery conditions such that their tactical initiative was high, moderate or weak (reflecting the possibilities of controlling rallies). Each situation finished with a passing shot from the opponent that the participant had to intercept with a volley stroke in the absence of visual information (vision occluded before the opponent's stroke). Analysis of directional responses showed that the participants were more accurate if they were in firm control of the rallies (high level of tactical initiative). Forecasts were also found to be more accurate for down‐the‐line backhand shots. These findings increase our understanding of anticipation in tennis. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Perceptual load in sport and the heuristic value of the perceptual load paradigm in examining expertise-related perceptual-cognitive adaptations

In two experiments, we transferred perceptual load theory to the dynamic field of team sports and tested the predictions derived from the theory using a novel task and stimuli. We tested a group of college students (N = 33) and a group of expert team sport players (N = 32) on a general perceptual load task and a complex, soccer-specific perceptual load task in order to extend the understanding of the applicability of perceptual load theory and further investigate whether distractor interference may differ between the groups, as the sport-specific processing task may not exhaust the processing capacity of the expert participants. In both, the general and the specific task, the pattern of results supported perceptual load theory and demonstrates that the predictions of the theory also transfer to more complex, unstructured situations. Further, perceptual load was the only determinant of distractor processing, as we neither found expertise effects in the general perceptual load task nor the sport-specific task. We discuss the heuristic utility of using response-competition paradigms for studying both general and domain-specific perceptual-cognitive adaptations.     

Skilled anticipation in real-world tasks: measurement of attentional demands in the domain of tennis

Anticipatory skills are characteristic of expert performance in a range of dynamic domains. However, models of the processes underlying such skilled anticipation remain limited. This study describes the construction and validation of a video-based test of anticipation in tennis and examined whether video test performance is less attentionally demanding for expert tennis players than for novices. Expert players performed the anticipation test more effectively than novices and were less vulnerable to dual-task decrement. This article discusses these findings in relation to models of skilled anticipation. The video test could be used for both selection and identification of training needs.     

Handedness and sex differences in selective interference of verbal and spatial information

The purpose of this experiment was to investigate handedness and sex differences with regard to the way verbal and spatial information is coded in selective-interference tasks. Left- and right-handed males and females were required to recall both letters and their positions in a matrix under three different kinds of interpolated conditions: visual, auditory, and noninterpolated activities. The results indicated that the selective-interference effect differed in right- and left-handers, whereas there were no differences by sex. Identity information had a dual encoding for both handedness groups, but it was relatively more biased toward visual encoding in left-handers than in right-handers; position information, however, was predominantly visually encoded--and to the same extent--in both handedness groups. These findings were interpreted as supporting the view that the differences in coding manner of right- and left-handers are related to differences in their hemispheric specialization.