Expert players accurately detect an opponent's movement intentions through sound alone

Area of Science:

• Auditory perception
• Action intention recognition
• Motor control

Background:

• Sound provides rich environmental information, but its role in recognizing actions beyond speech and music is understudied.
• Understanding if auditory cues alone can reveal an agent's intentions is crucial for human-agent interaction.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess if action intention can be inferred from movement-generated sounds.
• To determine if this auditory information can guide prospective movement.
• To investigate the role of expertise in sound-based intention recognition.

Main Methods:

• Two experiments involved participants virtually intercepting a virtual attacker using audio recordings of movements.
• Participants (novice and experienced basketball players) controlled a slider or their body to block the attacker.
• Deceptive and non-deceptive movements were used to test auditory intention perception.

Main Results:

• Basketball players predicted the attacker's final running direction more accurately than nonplayers.
• Prediction accuracy was higher in the second experiment, which used more basketball-specific actions.
• Auditory kinematic features of deceptive movements were effectively utilized by athletes.

Conclusions:

• Action intention can be perceived through the sounds movements produce.
• The ability to discern action intention from sound is enhanced through specialized practice and expertise.
• Auditory information alone can prospectively guide motor actions, particularly in practiced domains.