The Perception & Action Podcast

A look at the Differential Learning approach to skill acquisition. Is maximizing movement variability by preventing repetition and correction the optimal way to design practice? How does this differ from the Constraints-Led Approach?

A look at some recent research examining contextual interference, blocked vs random and variable vs constant practice. How should coaches put these concepts into practice?

A discussion with Leah Robinson, Associate Professor of Movement Science from the University of Michigan. Topics include the importance of fundamental movement skills, how these skills should be measured, perceived motor competence and interventions for promoting movement in young children.

Looking at research that has evaluated the Constraints-Led Approach (CLA) to coaching. How effective is this approach? What effects do changing constraints actually have on performance? How does the CLA comparing to other more traditional coaching methods?

What processes are involved when movement coordination is self-organized around constraints? How does the performer take into account their own action capabilities? What is the best way to design practice according to these ideas? A look at behavioral and ecological dynamics.

The first in a 3 part series on The Constraints-Led Approach to Coaching. What exactly are constraints? What are some common misconceptions about them? Why is understanding the theory behind them critical for using them effectively?

86 – Interview with Brian McCormick, Talent Development & Practice Design in Basketball

A discussion with Dave Mann, Assistant Professor at Vrije University in Amsterdam. Topics include gaze behavior, handedness and stance in batting; developing vision standards for Paralympic sports; and how expert athletes seem to be able to flexibly use central and peripheral vision

Is motor learning a single process that occurs at one time scale as suggested by the famous learning curve? Or are things happening simultaneously at multiple time scales, with some adaptations taking seconds and others years? What might this mean for coaching?

Just in time for the start of the World Series: a look vision and gaze behavior in baseball batting. Which aspects of vision are critical for hitting? Do great batters have superior vision? Where do good batters look before the ball is released?

What are the key differences between describing an athlete’s movements, an athlete’s knowledge about those movements, and the instructions used by a coach to facilitate those movements? How can these different perspectives inform and sometimes hurt each other?

A discussion with Tim Buszard, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Institute of Sport, Exercise & Active Living (ISEAL) & Tennis Australia. Topics include scaling sports equipment appropriately for kids, working memory capacity (WMC) and its role in implementing coaching instructions, whether contextual interference has value outside the lab, and Tim’s skill acquisition blog.

A discussion with Gaby Wulf, Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences, UNLV, and Rebecca Lewthwaite, Director of Rehabilitation Outcomes Management at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center and adjunct faculty at USC. We discuss the OPTIMAL theory of motor learning: Optimizing performance through intrinsic motivation and attention for learning.

Why is it important to include emotional context in practice? A look at the evidence for the beneficial effects of anxiety in training and guidelines for implementing pressure training.

When a coach identifies a maladaptive movement pattern in an athlete, what is the best way to change it? Do formal biomechanical evaluations help? How can we identify the origins of the problem? How can we improve agility and speed without disrupting perception-action coupling?