Psych - Perceptual Training Flashcards
The value of perceptual training depends on what 3 essential conditions?
Abernethy, Wood + Parks, 1999
- The skill being trained is a limiting factor for performance
- Training regimes can be found that selectively enhance the skill of interest
- Improvements in perceptual skill transfer to improved sports performance
What are organisations / coaches looking for upon doing perceptual training?
- Accelerated learning - achieve same level but get there quicker
- Enhanced performance - higher level than before
- Skill is more robust (under pressure)
Describe the Modified Perceptual Training Framework (MPTF)
What does it question?
Hadlow et al, 2018
- Are the stimuli representative? - if football, are there balls or not etc?
- Are the responses representative? - if football GK saves, is performer having to dive?
- Are higher-order perceptual-cognitive skills targeted? - if football, is participant just looking at laptop, or are they getting all context info they usually would?
What are 2 key perceptual training interventions?
Dynavision - hitting point-lights on wall when they light up (measuring RT etc)
Neurotracker - multiple object tracking task = varying speed + number of balls that will change colour briefly then revert + have to track them
Go through the MPTF and answer questions for Dynavision intervention…
- Very unrepresentative stimuli
- Very unrepresentative responses
- Low-order perceptual-cognitive skills
Go through the MPTF and answer questions for Neurotracker intervention…
- Still fairly unrepresentative stimuli (better than dynavision)
- Responses also unrepresentative
- Low-order perceptual-cognitive skills
What did US Skiers use to prepare for Winter Olympics?
VR goggles + Brain zapping headphones
- Fairly microenvironments + different dynamics compared to doing ski run
- Single run down by one skier - different line to what this skiier wants to take?
- Single conditions - can change (weather, brightness)
- Poor picture quality + smoothness of video
Perceptual training interventions…
30 Novice squash players in 3 different groups - explain this study further
Abernethy, Wood + Parks, 1999
3 groups…
1. Perceptual training group
2. Placebo (read manuals, watch top-level tennis matches)
3. Control - one physical practice per week
Training = 16x 20min sessions over 4 weeks - formal instructions + video practice (spatial + temporal occlusion, different racket sports etc)
Task - had to predict the direction + depth of squash shots - encouraged thinking via several formal instructions (on biomechanics leading to certain movements etc)
Perceptual training interventions…
30 Novice squash players in 3 different groups - what’s the need for the placebo group?
Abernethy, Wood + Parks, 1999
Used to assess whether improvements on the test are purely down to motivation to improve
- if placebo improve + reach same levels of intervention group, that shows intervention isn’t causing the increase
Perceptual training interventions…
30 Novice squash players in 3 different groups - results
Abernethy, Wood + Parks, 1999
- Perceptual training group improved anticipation skill (less than 30% error rate pre-ball contact)
- Control + placebo groups did not improve
Perceptual training interventions…
30 Novice squash players in 3 different groups - are there any limitations to this study?
Abernethy, Wood + Parks, 1999
- it was a video test only
- beginners used (10000 hr rule)
- mix of protocols (which one had best effect)
Perceptual training interventions… beginner benefits
What were the 2 studies surrounding this?
Singer et al, 1994
- 3 x 20min ‘verbal tips about visually identifying relevant cues’ - say if it was short / long or left/ right etc
Farrow et al, 1998
- 8 x 15min instructions to ‘look for indicative cues’ - say if it was short / long or left/ right etc
Perceptual training interventions… beginner benefits
What were the results of Singer’s and Farrow’s studies?
Singer et al, 1994
- Improvements in decision time (230ms) + response accuracy (42 vs 56%) on tennis serves
Farrow et al, 1998
- slight improvement in decision time (80ms) but came at cost of reduced decision accuracy (from 90 to 70%)
Perceptual training interventions… beginner benefits
Are there any limitations of Singer’s and Farrow’s studies?
- Beginners only
- Speed-accuracy trade-off
- Placebo effects
- Retention + transfer tests
Perceptual training interventions…
Novice hockey GKs (skilled outfield players) given a 45min training video of 20 penalty flicks - they highlighted orientation of stick face + foot placement
Did it work?
Williams et al, 2003
- faster decision times (-104ms) and accuracy maintained (65%)
- in transfer test (so faced ‘live’ penalties) = modest improvement (-45ms and +5%)
Perceptual training interventions…placebo effect can be a nightmare
48 novice footballers predicting penalty kick direction - explain further
Poulter et al, 2005
- Placebo group = watching match footage + told ‘this will help you’
- Control group
- Intervention group - explicit + implicit training group
Perceptual training interventions…placebo effect can be a nightmare
48 novice footballers predicting penalty kick direction - results
Poulter et al, 2005
- explicit + implicit training improved judgement accuracy of penalty kick direction
- but control and placebo groups also improved!
What is the explicit learning assumption of perceptual training?
- Find out what information is used by expert performers
- Make this information explicit to less-skilled performers
- Would hope that less-skilled performers improve
What is verbal over-shadowing?
The idea that trying to explain what you’re trying to perceive, you will actually get worse at doing it yourself
What do experts say about the explicit learning assumption?
Reber (1993) said ‘eventually those working on the expert / novice problem are going to have to come to grips with the work on implicit learning’
Perceptual training - different instruction protocols
28 novice GKs undergoing 7 days of training - aiming to steer people towards info sources without a direct rule
What were the groups?
Ryu et al, 2013
- Supplementary guidance (highlighted clues)
- Unguided training (nothing)
- Control
Perceptual training - different instruction protocols
28 novice GKs undergoing 7 days of training - aiming to steer people towards info sources without a direct rule
Results
Ryu et al, 2013
- Guided training sig. improved accuracy
- Sig. improvements in response time (0.3 to 0.15s)
Perceptual training - different instruction protocols
Intermediate junior tennis players underwent lab + on-court tests with 4 x 20 trial training protocol over 4 weeks - had to say shot direction
What were the 4 groups?
Smeeton et al, 2005
- Explicit Instruction - ‘look at player’s backswing, see how small the backswing is compared to other shots’
- Guided discovery - ‘look at player’s backswing. What do you notice for that particular shot?
- Discovery - ‘can you work out where she is going to hit ball before she hits it?’
- Control - no training
Perceptual training - different instruction protocols
Intermediate junior tennis players underwent lab + on-court tests with 4 x 20 trial training protocol over 4 weeks - had to say shot direction
Results
Smeeton et al, 2005
- Experimental groups - faster decisions post training, in both lab (-298ms) and on-court tests (-171ms)
- Response accuracy was maintained (approx 90%)
- In pressure test - explicit group made slower decisions + were less accurate
So show that explicit training protocols do not aid when anxious
Perceptual training - different instruction protocols
Smeeton et al (2005) intermediate junior tennis player study
Explain the correlation between number of rules recalled and change in decision time
Smeeton et al, 2005
Very strong correlation - so more rules they could recall using, the slower their decision time
- therefore it shows these rules are the cause of slowing
However for guided and discovery groups - this trend was not observed = shows dangers of explicit learning
What do Tennis players tend to focus on during a serve?
Ocular fixations of skilled players tend to be on the ball and predicted ball toss location
What does the reinvestment theory predict about motor skills under pressure? (Masters, 1992)
- so what would these explicit learning tasks do?
Giving people a bunch of rules as they learn a skill, when it came to a high pressure situation, they reverted to using those rules = suffered performance (less accurate)
- explicit protocols might lead to slower / less accurate performances but still benefit simple discriminations
What would skilled performers benefit more from?
Jackson + Farrow, 2005
Implicit training protocols - might be most relevant for skilled performers because the subtleties they need to pick up on are so small so rule based approaches might be less useful
Do skilled players benefit from implicit perceptual training? - ‘no feedback’ training
Skilled karate players undergoing 6 weeks of 8min training, in which the test was 30 x sequences (on attacks, moves, fakes) and had to respond
What were the groups?
Milazzo, Farrow + Fournier, 2014
- ‘No feedback’ training - just seeing things + reacting
- Control
- Placebo
Do skilled players benefit from implicit perceptual training? - ‘no feedback’ training
Skilled karate players undergoing 6 weeks of 8min training, in which the test was 30 x sequences (on attacks, moves, fakes) and had to respond
Results
Milazzo, Farrow + Fournier, 2014
- Perceptual training group doubled accuracy scores + decision time improved a lot - control + placebo group improved accuracy + decision time very very slightly
Perceptual training - deception
42 skilled youth + elite handball GKs tested on court with 56 video clips from 6 skilled players
What did the intervention group receive + what were the clips of?
Alsharji + Wade, 2016
Perceptual training group - 7x20min sessions over one week on iPads
56 clips x 3 modes…
1. Whole body, normal speed, occluded 33ms before ball release
2. Upper body, slow motion (-25%), occluded 33ms before ball release
3. Whole body, no occlusion, direction signalled afterwards
Perceptual training - deception
42 skilled youth + elite handball GKs tested on court with 56 video clips from 6 skilled players
Results
Alsharji + Wade, 2016
Perceptual group improved accuracy from just above chance to 70% (almost twice as good)
- other 2 groups did not change at all
Benefits for direct + deceptive throws
- not just working out throwing actions means (left or right) but also knows that it will be a throw not a feint
