The dynamics of expertise acquisition in sport : the role of affective learning design
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss how the effective development of expertise in sport could be enhanced by the consideration of affective constraints in the representative design of learning experiences and delineate two key principles of Affective Learning Design: (i) the design of emotion-laden learning experiences that effectively simulate the constraints of performance environments in sport; (ii) recognizing individualised emotional and coordination tendencies that are associated with different periods of learning.
About: This article is published in Psychology of Sport and Exercise.The article was published on 2015-01-01 and is currently open access. It has received 81 citations till now.
Summary (3 min read)
Jump to: [Introduction] – [Affective Learning Design] – [AFFECTIVE LEARNING DESIGN AND EXPERTISE IN SPORT 14] – [Affective Learning Design in Practice] – [The individualisation of affect] – [Time-scales and affects] – [Emotions are embedded in situation-specific task constraints] and [Conclusions]
Introduction
- Thus far (see Vallerand & Blanchard, 2000) , limited attention has been paid to the role that emotions might play during the acquisition and development of expertise.
- Stable attractors are states of system organisation that represent well learned, stable patterns of behaviour (Kelso, 1995; Thelen & Smith, 1994) .
- The theoretical rationale of ecological dynamics suggests that it is essential to design learning environments that guide athletes towards metastable regions of a perceptual-motor workspace during performance (physically and emotionally) to aid the acquisition of expertise in sport (Oudejans & Pijpers, 2009; Pinder, et al., 2012) .
Affective Learning Design
- The role of affect in developing expertise might be harnessed by adhering to two principles: (i) the design of emotion-laden learning experiences that effectively simulate the constraints and demands of performance environments in sport; (ii) recognising individualised emotional and behavioural tendencies that are indicative of learning.
- Affect, cognition, and behaviours exhibit self-organisational tendencies to underpin characteristic performance responses, and shape the intrinsic dynamics of an individual (Davids, et al., 2001; Schöner, Zanone, & Kelso, 1992) .
- During the development of emotional interpretations, changes in performance constraints may lead to metastable periods where an individual could rapidly transit towards one of a 'cluster' of possible cognitive-emotive states (Hollis, et al., 2009; Lewis, 2000b , AFFECTIVE LEARNING DESIGN AND EXPERTISE IN SPORT 13 2004) .
- Gymnasts attempting routines on balance beams of increasing height have been found to display performance decrements, elevated heart rate, and increased prevalence of perceived dysfunctional emotions (e.g. reporting feeling nervous or scared) particularly on a first attempt (Cottyn, De Clercq, Crombez, & Lenoir, 2012) .
AFFECTIVE LEARNING DESIGN AND EXPERTISE IN SPORT 14
- A relevant body of work has investigated the potential advantages to learning outcomes when training under pressure and the constraints of induced performance anxiety in a range of tasks (Oudejans, 2008; Oudejans & Nieuwenhuys, 2009; Oudejans & Pijpers, 2009 , 2010) .
- In a dart throwing task participants who trained under the task constraint of mild anxiety were found to more successfully maintain their performance levels in high anxiety conditions, compared with those who trained in low anxiety conditions (Oudejans & Pijpers, 2010) .
- Prior to practice, the performance of both groups was found to deteriorate when switching from low to high pressure task constraints.
- After completing three practice sessions, performance scores indicated that the shooting performance of the experimental group was maintained for the high pressure condition.
Affective Learning Design in Practice
- The intertwined relationship between movement behaviour and emotions poses many challenges and implications for sport psychologists and other practitioners interested in understanding how the concept of ALD can be applied to the acquisition of expertise in sport.
- Key considerations for implementing ALD include (i) adopting an individualised approach, (ii) acknowledging different time scales of learning, and (iii) embedding emotions in situation and plan for the potential emotional and cognitive circumstances in competition, and adequately sample them in learning simulations.
- This premise links to the two previously identified principles of ALD regarding the design of representative emotion-laden learning experiences, and identifying emotional and behavioural tendencies that are indicative of learning.
- The following discussion of these ideas includes a series of practical examples of how ALD might be embraced by sport psychologists, pedagogues, coaches, and athletes.
The individualisation of affect
- Of major significance for the design of affective learning environments is catering for individual differences between performers.
- A comparison of the performance of ice climbers revealed that the intra-individual movement choices (e.g. kicking, hooking into the ice) and inter-limb coordination modes of novices displayed less variability than those of experts (Seifert & Davids, 2012) .
- This emotion was a major constraint on their particular cognitions, perceptions and actions.
- The intentions (i.e. stable position vs. efficient and effective climbing movements) of each performer, based on their individualised perception of affordances, provide scope for a coach or sport psychologist to design targeted learning events.
- This approach is synonymous with psychological 'profiling' and shares some ideas with the notion of individual zones of optimal functioning (IZOF) model advocated by Hanin (e.g. Hanin, 2007; Hanin & Hanina, 2009) in which the interaction between emotions and actions during optimal performance is considered to be highly individualised.
Time-scales and affects
- The individualised nature of emotions must also take into account the different interacting time scales of learning that influence the development of expertise (Newell, Liu, & Mayer-Kress, 2001) .
- From a complex systems perspective, perception and action constrain the emergence of long term patterns or behavioural states (Lewis, 2000a (Lewis, , 2002)) .
- Essentially, these early experiences were more concerned about meeting the basic psychological need of learners to demonstrate competence (Renshaw, Oldham, & Bawden, 2012) , leading to higher levels of intrinsic motivation that sustain engagement over longer time frames necessary to achieve expertise.
- As athletes progressed through the developmental phases (i.e. from Romance to Precision to Integration, see Bloom, 1985) the relationship with the coach became more tightly coupled and tended to increasingly emphasise the acquisition of sport specific knowledge for managing the physical, emotional, and cognitive needs at an individual level (Abernethy, et al., 2002; Côté, et al., 2003) .
Emotions are embedded in situation-specific task constraints
- Emotion-laden experiences are considered to energise behaviour and facilitate an investment in tasks because emotions add context to actions, rather than an athlete merely 'going through the motions' in isolated practice drills (Jones, 2003; Renshaw, et al., 2012) .
- Practice task designs, such as the Battle Zone, manipulate the space and time demands on players which is captured by the Game Intensity Index (GII) concept (Chow, Davids, Renshaw, & Button, 2013) .
- These changes to practice task design created more physically and emotionally demanding performance environments that better simulated competitive performance conditions.
- At the end of a twelve-week training program that required divers not to baulk, athletes demonstrated enhanced performance through increased levels of functional movement variability.
Conclusions
- Founded on ecological dynamics principles, previous work has conceptualised and advocated a representative learning design for effective development of skill and expertise in sport.
- Here the authors have argued that these key principles of ALD will be valuable in the acquisition of sport expertise by considering affect, cognitions, and actions together as intertwined individualised tendencies which constrain performance and learning.
- Enhanced understanding of individualised behavioural tendencies during learning will also aid the design of representative learning environments that more effectively develop situation-specific skills.
- This allows performers to experience the emotional feelings associated with performing in learning situations that simulate the external task demands of a 'new' environment.
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01 May 2004
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a rich volume encompassing emotion theory and research with integration to clinical practice with heavy emphasis on emotion theory, including dynamic systems theory, non-linear dynamic, state space, chaos theory and variants of self-organization.
Abstract: Lewis, Granic and the several chapter authors have produced a rich volume encompassing emotion theory and research with integration to clinical practice.
The book begins with a necessary introduction which defines several key terms one must grasp in order to follow the book with its heavy emphasis on emotion theory. These definitions include dynamic systems theory, non-linear dynamic, state space, chaos theory and variants of self-organization.
The book is otherwise broken into 3 major sections. Intrapersonal processes focuses on internal working emotional systems and their development. Neurobiological processes focuses on the neurobiological equivalents of emotion and emotion development. Interpersonal processes elaborate, in detail, on the role of parent-child relationships, attachment, interpersonal dynamics and the role of marital relationships as a model.
The various chapters take an in depth look at both recent and some more classical research findings. This is interwoven with new thinking of some of the brightest minds in this field today, The chapter on Marital Modelling for example blends theory to this (Washington University) group’s own research, to practical assessment and therapeutic instruments. To whet the theorist/researcher’s appetite, the chapter goes into a mathematical model describing the marital dyad. Finally, it concludes with eight hypotheses that this group is studying toward the development of an empirically based marital intervention. Such a chapter is bound to stir up other researchers’ competitive and collaborative instincts, resulting in the provocation of both thought and emotion.
This book is definitely dense, and, despite its relative brevity, it is geared primarily for a subgroup of research based professionals and interested others. Regardless of this challenge, it is well worth the read as much more than a primer on this evolving and cutting-edge research and clinical area.
198 citations
01 Jan 2013
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify key properties of expertise in sport predicated on the performer-environment relationship and highlight the weaknesses of traditional approaches to expert performance, which uniquely focus on the individual and the environment separately, highlighted by an ecological dynamics perspective.
Abstract: This paper identifies key properties of expertise in sport predicated on the performer-environment relationship. Weaknesses of traditional approaches to expert performance, which uniquely focus on the performer and the environment separately, are highlighted by an ecological dynamics perspective. Key properties of expert movement systems include 'multi- and meta-stability', 'adaptive variability', 'redundancy', 'degeneracy' and the 'attunement to affordances'. Empirical research on these expert system properties indicates that skill acquisition does not emerge from the internal representation of declarative and procedural knowledge, or the imitation of expert behaviours to linearly reduce a perceived 'gap' separating movements of beginners and a putative expert model. Rather, expert performance corresponds with the ongoing co-adaptation of an individual's behaviours to dynamically changing, interacting constraints, individually perceived and encountered. The functional role of adaptive movement variability is essential to expert performance in many different sports (involving individuals and teams; ball games and outdoor activities; land and aquatic environments). These key properties signify that, in sport performance, although basic movement patterns need to be acquired by developing athletes, there exists no ideal movement template towards which all learners should aspire, since relatively unique functional movement solutions emerge from the interaction of key constraints.
175 citations
TL;DR: The Constraints-Led Approach (CLA) has emerged as a viable pedagogical option for teachers and coaches in the sport and physical education as mentioned in this paper, where the learner will self-organise in attempts to generate effective movement solutions.
Abstract: Background: The Constraints-Led Approach (CLA) has emerged as a viable pedagogical option for teachers and coaches in the sport and physical education. The emergence of a CLA to teaching and coaching has paralleled a change in the current zeitgeist with many scientists embracing the ideas of complexity and a more ecologically driven agenda. The CLA articulates that through the interaction of different constraints–task, environment, and performer–a learner will self-organise in attempts to generate effective movement solutions [Renshaw, Ian, Keith Davids, Elissa Phillips, and Hugo Kerherve. 2011. “Developing Talent in Athletes as Complex Neurobiological Systems.” In Talent Identification and Development in Sport: International Perspectives, edited by Joe Baker, Stephen Cobley, and Jorg Schorer. London: Routledge]. However, successful employment of a CLA requires an understanding of ecological dynamics as these underpinning concepts manifest themselves as guiding principles for the design of CLA practice environments. Findings: While some practitioners are adopting the ideas of CLA in their work, there is some concern that the often dense academic language often associated with the approach is acting as a key barrier in the take up of CLA and resulting in a limited understanding of the key underpinning concepts and hence poor implementation. It is therefore incumbent on advocates of CLA to provide pedagogues with the knowledge and tools to base learning design on the key principles of CLA. Conclusions: In this paper, we walk the reader through the key theoretical concepts in CLA. We introduce the key ideas underpinning a CLA to provide guidelines as to how practitioners can implement a CLA in their practice. Wherever possible, we provide ‘exemplars’ from sport and pedagogy settings in an attempt to de-mystify the potentially confronting language of the ecological dynamics landscape. We make clear that simply adopting a CLA should not be seen as a panacea for practitioners and conclude by emphasising that effective CLA teaching and coaching practice is therefore subject to the same pedagogical requirements when designing learning activities as when providing more traditional approaches.
113 citations
Cites background from "The dynamics of expertise acquisiti..."
...More recently, we have introduced the idea of Affective Learning Design (Headrick et al. 2015), to highlight the interaction between emotion, intentions, perception and actions....
[...]
01 Jan 2006
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors adopt concepts and tools from nonlinear dynamics in examining effects of boxer-target distance and perceived punching efficiency on emergent decision-making during a typical practice task in boxing.
Abstract: Previous research has shown how dynamical systems theory provides a relevant framework for investigating decision-making behavior in sport. The aim of this study was to adopt concepts and tools from nonlinear dynamics in examining effects of boxer-target distance and perceived punching efficiency on emergent decision-making during a typical practice task in boxing. Results revealed the existence of critical values of scaled distances between boxers and targets for first time appearance and disappearance of a diverse range of boxing actions including jabs, hooks and uppercuts. Reasons for the diversity of actions were twofold: i) abrupt (qualitative) changes in the number of the possible punches, i.e. motor solutions to the hitting task; and ii), fine modification of the probabilities of selecting specific striking patterns. Boxers were able to exploit the emerging perception of strikeability, leading to a changing diversity of selected actions and a cascade of abrupt changes in the perceptual-motor work space of the task. Perceived efficiency of a punching action by the participants also changed as a function of the scaled distance to a target and was correlated with the probability of occurrence of specific boxing actions. Accordingly, scaled distance-dependent perceived efficiency seems an important perceptual constraint in the training task of punching a heavy bag in boxers. Key PointsDuring the practicing with static (i.e. non moving) heavy bags novice boxers' perceptual-action system is sensitive to the scaled distance and efficiency informational constraints. These interdependent constraints shape the action behaviour of the novice boxers;During heavy bag practice novice boxers are subject to a kind of discovery learning by exploring the efficiency of their motor repertoire when changing the performer - target distances;The region close to D = 0.6 maximizes the flexibility of switching among different types of punching actions and is optimal for practicing the temporal couplings between all types of boxing actions;Strategic positioning among boxers spontaneously emerges under the pressure of the key constraints revealed in these research. Applying practice strategy that emphasizes learning in which trainees would themselves explore, discover and thus adapt to the information - movement demands of diverse sparring situations is thus of great importance.
107 citations
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: In this article, spatiotemporal interactions between football players and the ball in 1 vs. 1 dyads were investigated, and it was found that proximity-to-goal influenced the performance of players, particularly when attacking or advancing away from goal areas.
Abstract: The aim of this study was to determine whether spatiotemporal interactions between footballers and the ball in 1 vs. 1 sub-phases are influenced by their proximity to the goal area. Twelve participants (age 15.3 ± 0.5 years) performed as attackers and defenders in 1 vs. 1 dyads across three field positions: (a) attacking the goal, (b) in midfield, and (c) advancing away from the goal area. In each position, the dribbler was required to move beyond an immediate defender with the ball towards the opposition goal. Interactions of attacker-defender dyads were filmed with player and ball displacement trajectories digitized using manual tracking software. One-way repeated measures analysis of variance was used to examine differences in mean defender-to-ball distance after this value had stabilized. Maximum attacker-to-ball distance was also compared as a function of proximity-to-goal. Significant differences were observed for defender-to-ball distance between locations (a) and (c) at the moment when the defender-to-ball distance had stabilized (a: 1.69 ± 0.64 m; c: 1.15 ± 0.59 m; P < 0.05). Findings indicate that proximity-to-goal influenced the performance of players, particularly when attacking or advancing away from goal areas, providing implications for training design in football. In this study, the task constraints of football revealed subtly different player interactions than observed in previous studies of dyadic systems in basketball and rugby union.
72 citations
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TL;DR: In this paper, a hierarchical model of approach and avoidance achievement motivation was proposed and tested in a college classroom and the results indicated that mastery goals were grounded in achievement motivation and high competence expectancies; performance-avoidance goals, in fear of failure and low competence expectation; and performance-approach goals were in ach.
Abstract: A hierarchical model of approach and avoidance achievement motivation was proposed and tested in a college classroom. Mastery, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals were assessed and their antecedents and consequences examined. Results indicated that mastery goals were grounded in achievement motivation and high competence expectancies; performance-avoidance goals, in fear of failure and low competence expectancies; and performance-approach goals, in ach.ievement motivation, fear of failure, and high competence expectancies. Mastery goals facilitated intrinsic motivation, performance-approach goals enhanced graded performance, and performanceavoidance goals proved inimical to both intrinsic motivation and graded performance. The proposed model represents an integration of classic and contemporary approaches to the study of achievement motivation. Achievement motivation is a ubiquitous feature of daily life. In the classroom, at the workplace, and on the ballfield individuals strive to be competent in their effortful activities. In the past decade, many theorists have utilized a social-cognitive, achievement goal approach in accounting for individuals' competence-relevant strivings. "Achievement goal" is commonly defined as the purpose of task engagement (Maehr, 1989), and the specific type of goal adopted is posited to create a framework for how individuals interpret, experience, and act in their achievement pursuits (Dweck, 1986; Nicholls, 1989). Achievement goal theorists commonly identify two distinct orientations toward competence: a performance goal focused on the demonstration of competence relevant to others, and a mastery goal focused on the development of competence and task mastery (Ames & Archer, 1987; for similar conceptualizations with different nomenclature see Dweck, 1986; NichoUs, 1984). The adoption of a performance goal is hypothesized to produce susceptibility to a "helpless" pattern of responses in achievement settings (e.g., a preference for easy or difficult tasks, withdrawal of effort in the face of failure, and decreased task enjoyment), whereas the adoption of a mastery goal is presumed to lead to a "mastery" motivational pattern (e.g., a preference for moderately challenging tasks, persistence in the face of failure, and enhanced task enjoyment; Ames, 1992; Dweck & Leggett, 1988; Nicholls, 1989). Most achievement goal theorists conceptualize both perfor
3,412 citations
"The dynamics of expertise acquisiti..." refers background in this paper
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