Perceptual-Cognitive Skills and Their Interaction as a Function of Task Constraints in Soccer
Click name to view affiliation
Search for other papers by André Roca in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Paul R. Ford in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Allistair P. McRobert in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by A. Mark Williams in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
The ability to anticipate and to make decisions is crucial to skilled performance in many sports. We examined the role of and interaction between the different perceptual-cognitive skills underlying anticipation and decision making. Skilled and less skilled players interacted as defenders with life-size film sequences of 11 versus 11 soccer situations. Participants were presented with task conditions in which the ball was located in the offensive or defensive half of the pitch (far vs. near conditions). Participants’ eye movements and verbal reports of thinking were recorded across two experiments. Skilled players reported more accurate anticipation and decision making than less skilled players, with their superior performance being underpinned by differences in task-specific search behaviors and thought processes. The perceptual-cognitive skills underpinning superior anticipation and decision making were shown to differ in importance across the two task constraints. Findings have significant implications for those interested in capturing and enhancing perceptual-cognitive skill in sport and other domains.
André Roca, Paul R. Ford, and Allistair P. McRobert are with the Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK. A. Mark Williams is with the Centre for Sports Medicine and Human Performance, Brunel University, London, UK.
© 2023 Human Kinetics