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Using task dynamics to quantify the affordances of throwing for long distance and accuracy
Andrew D Wilson1, Andrew Weightman2, Geoffrey P Bingham3
1School of Social, Psychological, and Communication Sciences, Leeds Beckett University.
Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance
|January 15, 2016
Summary
Expert throwers adapt their technique to hit targets by perceiving and utilizing the affordances of the target
Area of Science:
- Motor control and perception
- Biomechanics of sport
Background:
- Understanding how athletes adapt their movements to environmental conditions is crucial.
- Affordances, as defined by Gibson, are action possibilities offered by the environment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how affordances influence the motor control of throwing for accuracy and distance.
- To determine if expert throwers perceive and utilize target affordances.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments involving expert throwers (baseball, softball, cricket).
- Measurement of release parameters (angle, speed, height) during throwing tasks.
- Simulation of projectile motion to define affordance spaces for different target locations and orientations.
Main Results:
- Expert throwers successfully scaled their release parameters to match changing target locations.
- Simulated affordance spaces accurately predicted successful release parameters.
- Throwers successfully hit both vertically and horizontally oriented targets, demonstrating perception of affordances.
Conclusions:
- Expert throwers perceive and utilize affordances to guide their motor actions.
- A task dynamical approach is proposed for studying affordances in action.
- This research provides insights into the perception-action coupling in sports.
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