Daniel Memmert

The effects of eye movements, age, and expertise on inattentional blindness

Based on various stimuli, the findings for the inattentional blindness paradigm suggest that many observers do not perceive an unexpected object in a dynamic setting. In a first experiment, inattentional blindness was combined with eye tracking data from children. Observers who did not notice the unexpected object in the basketball game test by spent on average as much time (about one second) looking at the unexpected object as those subjects who did perceive it. As such, individual differences that are responsible for the recognition of unexpected objects have to be found as further indicators. In a second experiment, the expert-novice paradigm was used to show that the probability of seeing an unexpected object can be increased with specific previous experience. The results in the same task indicate significant differences between basketball experts and basketball novices. The ages of the subjects in both experiments are discussed in connection with the inattentional blindness paradigm.

Play and practice in the development of sport‐specific creativity in team ball sports

Current theoretical approaches regarding the development of creativity support the view that gathering diversified experience over years is an ideal medium for creative thinking. This study examined the role of practice conditions in the development of creative behavior in team ball sports. Twelve trainers selected the most creative and the least creative players from their teams. These athletes (n=72) provided information about the quantity and type of sport‐specific and other related practice activities undertaken throughout their careers. Results indicated significant differences between the groups for time spent in unstructured play activities and a marginally significant difference for total time spent in training for their main sport. In both cases, more creative players accumulated more time than their less creative counterparts.

The effects of non-specific and specific concepts on tactical creativity in team ball sports

Abstract The main aim of this study was to examine the efficacy of various training approaches in team ball sports for the development of tactical creativity. Altogether, 135 children aged about 7 years took part in a 15-month field-based study. They participated either in non-specific treatment groups, a specific handball, soccer or field hockey group, or a control group. General and game-oriented tactical creativity were chosen as outcome measures. Our analysis of treatment-related effects showed that the non-specific groups displayed improvements in general creativity, whereas the specific groups showed improvements in the game-oriented creativity in which they were trained. Furthermore, clear transfer-related effects were observed. The analysis of group-related effects indicated no differences between the approaches. Only the soccer-specific group performed better in nearly all creative values. In conclusion, a non-specific concept appears to be a promising alternative to traditional specific treatments. This is further substantiated by several pedagogical, psychological, and medical arguments.

Can Creativity Be Improved by an Attention-Broadening Training Program? An Exploratory Study Focusing on Team Sports

ABSTRACT A look at a number of recent experiments reveals that the interaction between breadth of attention and creative performance is mainly based on correlational studies and laboratory creativity tasks, yet task complexity is seldom taken into consideration. Discussion of several methodological aspects recommends the field of sport in particular as a fruitful area in which complex behavior can be studied in a complex context. An exploratory 6-month longitudinal study (n = 48) proved the influence of an attention-broadening training program on the development of creative performance in the area of team sports. Creative performance was measured by a real-world sport-specific creativity task with 2 different kinds of complexity levels. A comparison between a control group and a treatment group, which focused on training a narrow breadth of attention, showed that the creative performance improved significantly (partial χ2 = .51). An attention-broadening training program facilitated greater improvements in creative performance in complex tasks than in simple tasks. The results of this exploratory study are discussed in terms of theoretical and practical implications.

Tactical pattern recognition in soccer games by means of special self-organizing maps.

Increasing amounts of data are collected in sports due to technological progress. From a typical soccer game, for instance, the positions of the 22 players and the ball can be recorded 25 times per second, resulting in approximately 135.000 datasets. Without computational assistance it is almost impossible to extract relevant information from the complete data. This contribution introduces a hierarchical architecture of artificial neural networks to find tactical patterns in those positional data. The results from the classification using the hierarchical setup were compared to the results gained by an expert manually classifying the different categories. Short and long game initiations can be detected with relative high accuracy leading to the conclusion that the hierarchical architecture is capable of recognizing different tactical patterns and variations in these patterns. Remaining problems are discussed and ideas concerning further improvements of classification are indicated.

Identification of non-specific tactical tasks in invasion games

Background and significance: The notion of transferability (i.e. sampling) has been put forward as one of four core pedagogical principles for games teaching. The sampling principle was based on the premise that it may be possible to show the existence of tactical similarities between apparently dissimilar games, leading to a much better overall understanding of games. However, research has yet to empirically identify tactical problems that are non-specific. This means that they are not specific to any one game, and commonly occur across all invasion games (i.e. soccer, team handball, field hockey) which involve different techniques or skills. Thus, the non-specific framework suggests that unlike motor competencies, it may be possible to train tactical transfer independently of particular movement techniques. A deeper understanding of which kinds of non-specific tactical tasks exist in invasion games would aid teachers and coaches in structuring invasion game units/lessons according to tactical content while offering a variety of games experiences to young children and may further provide a setting in which to assess game performance. While the concept of tactical transfer has been empirically tested in two studies in net/wall game contexts there has been little empirical evaluation of tactical transfer in invasion games, especially for young children (i.e. under 8 years). Purposes: The purpose of this exploratory study was to empirically identify non-specific tactical tasks in invasion games. Design and procedure: In a cross-sectional design 95 children (29 girls, 66 boys; Mage  = 6.5 years; SD = .95) participated in various ‘Game Test Situtations’ (n = 7) with different motor executors (n = 3; hands, feet and with an implement). The seven Game Test Situations were situated tactical tasks focused on solving a particular tactical problem. These were: (1) attacking the goal, (2) taking ball near goal, (3) playing together, (4) identification of gaps, (5) feinting, (6) achieving an advantage, and (7) supporting and orienting. Video recordings of Game Test Situations were reviewed by experts and a performance score attributed to each participant for each of the seven GTS with each of the three motor executors (n = 21). These data were placed into the internal structure of an Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) model for subsequent factorial validation. Results: Results showed the existence of six non-specific tactical tasks as achieving an advantage and supporting and orientating were found to be the same tactical task. Discussion: Six tactical core tasks were factorially validated. This has pedagogical implications for teaching and coaching in invasion games. Firstly, ‘getting the game right’ allowed the children to exploit the structure of the game in order to use it to make appropriate decisions during their participation in the tactical tasks no matter of the motor executor used. Secondly, deliberate play experiences such as the childs participation in the six tactical tasks at a non-conscious and embodied level may provide an important foundation for future learning. Thirdly, the six tactical tasks may be used by teachers and coaches as a way of assessing game performance. Conclusion: Non-specific tactical tasks such as the six validated in this study offer teachers and coaches a way of taking advantage of the tactical similarities between invasion games which involve different techniques and skills.

The dark side of visual awareness in sport: Inattentional blindness in a real-world basketball task.

Most research in the field of decision making in sports has focused on the bright side of visual attention and has not taken the dark side of visual awareness into account. Understanding the costs of such inattention should be complementary to the study of how attention facilitates perception. In the present study, we provide evidence for the existence of inattentional blindness (IB) in a real-world basketball setting among adults (Experiment 1). In Experiment 2, we found that players with hardly any basketball experience were more likely to experience IB in a real-world basketball setting, as compared with experienced athletes. Improving the ecological validity of the setting by enhancing the perception-action coupling (Experiment 3) and increasing task difficulty (Experiment 4) did not appear to affect the occurrence of IB among experienced athletes. IB can be considered a limitation of the visual system, but it also highlights a critical aspect of visual processing, which allows us to remain focused on the important aspects of the world. But as is shown in the present experiments, it is possible to induce an attentional set—for example, by sport-specific instructions—that leads to players’ missing important game-relevant information.

Analysis and simulation of creativity learning by means of artificial neural networks

The paper presents a new neural network approach for analysis and simulation of creative behavior. The used concept of Dynamically Controlled Neural Gas (DyCoNG) entails a combination of Dynamically Controlled Network [Perl, J. (2004a). A neural network approach to movement pattern analysis. Human Movement Science,23, 605-620] and Growing Neural Gas (Fritzke, 1995) by quality neurons. A quality neuron reflects the rareness of a piece of information and therefore can measure the originality of a recorded activity that was assigned to the neuron during the network training. The DyCoNG approach was validated using data from a longitudinal field-based study. The creative behavior of 42 participants in standardized test situations was tested in a creative training program lasting six months. The results from the DyCoNG-based simulation show that the network is able to separate main process types and reproduce recorded creative learning processes by means of simulation. The results are discussed in connection with practical implications in team sports and with a view to future investigations.

Creativity, expertise, and attention: Exploring their development and their relationships

Abstract Recent evidence from neuroscience suggests that creativity is developed early in life and that the greatest improvements in creativity can be expected during this time. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the creative development of children depending on their level of expertise and attention processes. Moreover, the significance of general and specific attention components and special training effects in the development of specific and non-specific creative thinking remain unclear. Thus, skilled (team handball) and non-skilled children (n = 120) aged 7, 10, and 13 completed two divergent thinking tasks (specific/non-specific) and two attention tasks (specific/non-specific) in a cross-sectional design. It is evident that general and sport-specific creativity have similar paths of development. Skilled players with high attention scores performed better than skilled players with low attention scores, in accordance with specific creative thinking abilities. In contrast, and in accordance with general creative thinking abilities, non-skilled players with less attentional skills outperformed non-skilled players.

Game creativity analysis using neural networks

Abstract Experts in ball games are characterized by extraordinary creative behaviour. This article outlines a framework for analysing types of individual development of creative performance based on neural networks. Therefore, two kinds of sport-specific training programme for the learning of game creativity in real field contexts were investigated. Two training groups (soccer, n = 20; field hockey, n = 17) but not a control group (n = 18) improved with respect to three measuring points (P < 0.001), although no difference could be established between the two training groups (P = 0.212). By using neural networks it is now possible to distinguish between five types of learning behaviour in the development of performance, the most striking ones being what we call “up-down” and “down-up”. In the field hockey group in particular, an up-down fluctuation process was identified, whereby creative performance increases initially, but at the end is worse than in the middle of the training programme. The reverse down-up fluctuation process was identified mainly in the soccer group. The results are discussed with regard to recent training explanation models, such as the super-compensation theory, with a view to further development of neural network applications.