Exploring the Higher-Order Cognitive Capacities of Sports Coaches

Author(s):  
Andrew Kennedy ◽  
Paul E. Dux ◽  
Clifford J. Mallett

Higher-order cognitive functions refer to a collection of executive processes, which support the production of controlled, coordinated, and adaptive cognitive operations. Within the field of sports coaching, higher-order cognitive functions, such as cognitive control, are perceived to be beneficial for expert performance. Nevertheless, there is currently no empirical evidence base linking these cognitive capacities with sports coaching expertise. It, therefore, seems both timely and appropriate to explore the higher-order capacities of sports coaches and better understand existing relationships. In this insight paper, we make a case for adopting domain-general experimental approaches to progress knowledge and understanding of the relationships between fundamental higher-order cognitive capacities and sports coaching expertise. In making our case, we provide conceptual discussions on the possible associations between higher-order cognitive functions and sports coaches’ cognitive operations. We additionally outline the potential advantages of informing an empirical evidence base about higher-order cognitive capacities for sports coaching research and practice.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joe Butler ◽  
Samuel Ngabo ◽  
Marcus Missal

Complex biological systems build up temporal expectations to facilitate adaptive responses to environmental events, in order to minimise costs associated with incorrect responses, and maximise the benefits of correct responses. In the lab, this is clearly demonstrated in tasks which show faster response times when the period between warning (S1) and target stimulus (S2) on the previous trial was short and slower when the previous trial foreperiod was long. The mechanisms driving such higher order effects in temporal preparation paradigms are still under debate, with key theories proposing that either i) the foreperiod leads to automatic modulation of the arousal system which influences responses on the subsequent trial, or ii) that exposure to a foreperiod results in the creation of a memory trace which is used to guide responses on the subsequent trial. Here we provide data which extends the evidence base for the memory accounts, by showing that previous foreperiod exposures are cumulative with reaction times shortening after repeated exposures; whilst also demonstrate that the higher order effects associated with a foreperiod remain active for several trials.


2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (S4) ◽  
pp. 17-24
Author(s):  
Hannah Abelow ◽  
Cassandra Crifasi ◽  
Daniel Webster

This article argues that state government actors concerned about gun violence prevention should prioritize enactment of robust firearm purchaser regimes at the state level. First, the article outlines the empirical evidence base for purchaser licensing. Then, the article describes how state governments can design this policy. Next, the article assesses the likelihood that purchaser licensing legislation will continue to be upheld by federal courts. Finally, the article addresses the implications of this policy, aimed at curbing gun deaths, for equally important racial justice priorities. Taken together, these various considerations indicate that purchaser licensing policies are among the most effective firearm-focused laws state governments can enact to reduce gun deaths within the existing federal legislative and legal frameworks.


2015 ◽  
Vol 370 (1681) ◽  
pp. 20140267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul J. Ferraro ◽  
Merlin M. Hanauer

To develop effective protected area policies, scholars and practitioners must better understand the mechanisms through which protected areas affect social and environmental outcomes. With strong evidence about mechanisms, the key elements of success can be strengthened, and the key elements of failure can be eliminated or repaired. Unfortunately, empirical evidence about these mechanisms is limited, and little guidance for quantifying them exists. This essay assesses what mechanisms have been hypothesized, what empirical evidence exists for their relative contributions and what advances have been made in the past decade for estimating mechanism causal effects from non-experimental data. The essay concludes with a proposed agenda for building an evidence base about protected area mechanisms.


Author(s):  
Ting Guo ◽  
Yanna Ren ◽  
Xiaotong Zhu ◽  
Hong Chen ◽  
Satoshi Takahashi ◽  
...  

The present studies indicate that training effects in a certain domain may result in the acquired skills being transferred to other domains that require similar abilities. Cognitive training involves structured exercises that are prescribed and undertaken with the purpose of enhancing cognitive abilities, such as attention, memory, and problem solving. In contrast to symptomatic pharmacotherapy, non-pharmacological approaches may further improve patients' situations. Our aim was to summarize the empirical evidence for the rehabilitation of individuals with cognitive disorders by using training tasks to enhance specific cognitive functions to combat against cognitive degradation and transfer the benefits to other widely used domains.


2020 ◽  
pp. 389-430
Author(s):  
Robert H. Logie ◽  
Clément Belletier ◽  
Jason M. Doherty

Multiple theories of working memory are described in the chapters of this book and often these theories are viewed as being mutually incompatible, yet each is associated with a supporting body of empirical evidence. This chapter argues that many of these differences reflect different research questions, different levels of explanation, and differences in how participants perform their assigned tasks in different laboratories, rather than fundamental theoretical adversity. It describes a version of a multiple component working memory in which a range of specialized cognitive functions (or mental tools) act in concert, giving the impression, at a different level of explanation, of a unified cognitive system. The chapter argues that more rapid and more substantial scientific progress on the understanding of the concept of working memory would be achieved through identifying the levels of explanation explored within each theoretical framework, and attempting to integrate theoretical frameworks rather than perpetuating debate with no clear resolution in sight.


2021 ◽  
pp. 93-116
Author(s):  
John Toner ◽  
Barbara Gail Montero ◽  
Aidan Moran

What role might intuition and deliberation play during the performance of well-learned skills? Dreyfus and Dreyfus’ (1986) influential phenomenological analysis of skill-acquisition proposes that expert performance is guided by non-cognitive responses which are fast, effortless, and intuitive in nature. Although Dreyfus and Dreyfus (1986) recognize that, on occasions (e.g. when performance goes awry for some reason), a form of ‘detached deliberative rationality’ may be used by experts to improve their performance, they see no role for calculative problem solving or deliberation (i.e. drawing on rules or mental representations) when performance is going well. The current chapter counters this argument by drawing on empirical evidence and phenomenological description to argue that skilled performers use cognitive control (an executive function) across a range of sporting situations (i.e. in training, pre-performance routines, on-line skill execution) in order to maintain and enhance performance proficiency.


Sociology ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 626-645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence Lessard-Phillips

In this article I explore the dimensionality of the long-term experiences of the main ethnic minority groups (their adaptation) in Britain. Using recent British data, I apply factor analysis to uncover the underlying number of factors behind variables deemed to be representative of the adaptation experience within the literature. I then attempt to assess the groupings of adaptation present in the data, to see whether a typology of adaptation exists (i.e. whether adaptation in different dimensions can be concomitant with others). The analyses provide an empirical evidence base to reflect on: (1) the extent of group differences in the adaptation process, which may cut across ethnic and generational lines; and (2) whether the uncovered dimensions of adaptation match existing theoretical views and empirical evidence. Results suggest that adaptation should be regarded as a multi-dimensional phenomenon where clear typologies of adaptation based on specific trade-offs (mostly cultural) appear to exist.


Author(s):  
John R. Hodges

Chapter 3 discusses aspects of normal and abnormal language function, followed by a brief description of disorders of calculation (acalculia) and of higher-order motor control (apraxia). The second half of the chapter deals with disturbed right hemisphere functions: neglect phenomena, dressing and constructional apraxia, and complex visuo-perceptual deficits (agnosias).


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