Differences in anchoring strategy underlie differences in coordination in novice jugglers

The learning process of ball juggling is characterized by considerable individual differences in acquired coordination patterns. Previous research has shown that the coordination patterns observed in novice jugglers can be roughly divided into two classes: the high ratio pattern, in which the ball is held for a relatively long time, and the low ratio pattern, in which the ball is held for a relatively short time. To account for these differences in coordination patterns, we examined the anchoring strategies employed by novice jugglers for controlling the juggling movements. Analyses of the correlation between coordination patterns and selected spatiotemporal variabilities revealed that the coordination patterns with a high dwell ratio had lower temporal variability than patterns with a low dwell ratio, which in turn had lower variability of spatial variables than patterns with a high dwell ratio. These findings indicate that individual differences in the coordination patterns adopted by novice jugglers, and hence their learning paths, result from differences in the control strategies employed.