Perceiving the intentions of others: how do skilled performers make anticipation judgments?

In this chapter, the processes underpinning anticipation skill in dynamic, sport tasks are reviewed. A number of perceptual-cognitive skills that contribute to our ability to perceive the intentions of opponents are highlighted, such as the ability to: (a) pick up advance information from an opponent's postural orientation, (b) identify stimulus familiarity in patterns of play, (c) explore the visual scene in an efficient and effective manner, and (d) ascertain the most likely options facing an opponent at any given moment in time. A framework is presented to illustrate how these different perceptual-cognitive skills interact in a continuous and dynamic manner during performance. Finally, an attempt is made to illustrate how the interaction between these perceptual-cognitive skills, as well as the nature of the link between perception and action, may be influenced by player, task, and situational constraints.