Alexandra Pizzera

Perceptual Judgments of Sports Officials are Influenced by their Motor and Visual Experience

We examined the relation between previous motor and visual experience and current officiating experience of expert judges and referees and their judgments from an embodied cognition viewpoint. A total of 370 sports officials from soccer, handball, ice hockey, and trampoline took part in the study. Analyses revealed that cognitive judgments are related to motor, visual, and officiating experience to different degrees in the analyzed sports. Our findings indicate that, depending on the sport, sports officials should either specialize early in officiating, or gather visuo-motor experience as an athlete or spectator first, and then switch roles to become a sports official.

Does Motor or Visual Experience Enhance the Detection of Deceptive Movements in Football

This study addressed the question of whether motor and visual experiences enhance the detection of deceptive and non-deceptive actions in football. Using a pre–post–retention test design, we conducted an intervention study with 40 football players, manipulating specific motor and visual experiences through a training intervention, with the motor group learning to fake fouls and the visual group watching the training. Prior general motor and visual experiences were also assessed via a questionnaire. Referee-like decision-making performance, involving the detection of deceptive actions, was measured using a video test. Separate 4 × 3 (Group × Video Test) repeated-measures analyses of variance were calculated, with decision accuracy and decision time as the dependent variables, representing decision-making performance. The results revealed only slight effects of the intervention, with the motor group reporting long-term effects, as reflected by the greater performance enhancement from post- to retention test. Prior general visual experience in football was shown to enhance deception detection for all three groups. Sport associations could use these results in their referee education programs by including prior general experiences as well as motor and visual training in deceptive and non-deceptive actions to enhance accurate judgments of these situations on the field.

Gymnastic Judges Benefit from Their Own Motor Experience as Gymnasts

Gymnastic judges have the difficult task of evaluating highly complex skills. My purpose in the current study was to examine evidence that judges use their sensorimotor experiences to enhance their perceptual judgments. In a video test, 58 judges rated 31 gymnasts performing a balance beam skill. I compared decision quality between judges who could perform the skill themselves on the balance beam (specific motor experience = SME) and those who could not. Those with SME showed better performance than those without SME. These data suggest that judges use their personal experiences as information to accurately assess complex gymnastic

Auditory reafferences: the influence of real-time feedback on movement control

Auditory reafferences are real-time auditory products created by a person’s own movements. Whereas the interdependency of action and perception is generally well studied, the auditory feedback channel and the influence of perceptual processes during movement execution remain largely unconsidered. We argue that movements have a rhythmic character that is closely connected to sound, making it possible to manipulate auditory reafferences online to understand their role in motor control. We examined if step sounds, occurring as a by-product of running, have an influence on the performance of a complex movement task. Twenty participants completed a hurdling task in three auditory feedback conditions: a control condition with normal auditory feedback, a white noise condition in which sound was masked, and a delayed auditory feedback condition. Overall time and kinematic data were collected. Results show that delayed auditory feedback led to a significantly slower overall time and changed kinematic parameters. Our findings complement previous investigations in a natural movement situation with non-artificial auditory cues. Our results support the existing theoretical understanding of action–perception coupling and hold potential for applied work, where naturally occurring movement sounds can be implemented in the motor learning processes.

Influence of players' vocalisations on soccer referees' decisions

Abstract The influence of a potentially fouled players vocalisations on the referees decisions was investigated. Experienced soccer referees watched video clips of real-match situations that were presented either without sound or with sound where a players vocalisations were clearly audible and made judgements regarding fouls, direction of play and personal penalties. The results revealed that players’ vocalisations had no impact on the foul decisions of the referees. However, once a referee made a foul decision, the players vocalisations led to an increased number of personal penalties (increase in yellow cards) for the foul-causing player. In addition to crowd noise, a players vocalisations during a foul are used as a proximal cue in the referees decision-making process.

Long-term effects of acoustic reafference training (ART)

Abstract In sport visual feedback is often used to enhance performance, mostly neglecting the auditory modality. However, athletes produce natural sounds when they move (acoustic reafferences) which they perceive and use to control their movements. We examined the short- and long-term effects of a training intervention on a complex movement by using acoustic reafferences. Natural step sounds produced during hurdling were recorded and played back to the participants immediately before each trial, with an increase (fast group), decrease (slow group), or no manipulation (control group) in the tempo. All groups increased their hurdling performance regarding overall running time, with the slow group showing the best performance development. After a 10-week retention, the fast and slow group further increased performance, whereas the control group declined. The repeated experience with acoustic information associated with the rhythmic pattern of hurdling may have helped developing a cognitive representation of that movement, especially regarding long-term effects.

Gaze Behavior of Gymnastics Judges: Where Do Experienced Judges and Gymnasts Look While Judging?

ABSTRACT Gymnastics judges and former gymnasts have been shown to be quite accurate in detecting errors and accurately judging performance. Purpose: The purpose of the current study was to examine if this superior judging performance is reflected in judges’ gaze behavior. Method: Thirty-five judges were asked to judge 21 gymnasts who performed a skill on the vault in a video-based test. Classifying 1 sample on 2 different criteria, judging performance and gaze behavior were compared between judges with a higher license level and judges with a lower license level and between judges who were able to perform the skill (specific motor experience [SME]) and those who were not. Results: The results revealed better judging performance among judges with a higher license level compared with judges with a lower license level and more fixations on the gymnast during the whole skill and the landing phase, specifically on the head and arms of the gymnast. Specific motor experience did not result in any differences in judging performance; however, judges with SME showed similar gaze patterns to those of judges with a high license level, with 1 difference in their increased focus on the gymnasts’ feet. Conclusion: Superior judging performance seems to be reflected in a specific gaze behavior. This gaze behavior appears to partly stem from judges’ own sensorimotor experiences for this skill and reflects the gymnasts’ perspective onto the skill.

Preface in Performance psychology: perception, action, cognition, and emotion

The scope of this book is to present a unique collective volume written by experts, with the aims of providing a scientific guide to the field of performance psychology with a focus on research from multiple disciplines and domains and synthesizing these perspectives to form a foundation for future theoretical, empirical, and applied developments.