companion website: decision making and working memory

Companion website: www.wiley.com/go/mcmorris/acquisitionsportsskills

DECISION MAKING AND WORKING MEMORY


Learning objectives

• understand what is meant by decision making during skilled performance• understand the importance of decision making in skilled performance• understand the role of working memory in decision making• have a basic knowledge of the functional brain regions involved in working

memory and decision making• have a basic understanding of theories of cognitive development which affect

working memory and decision making • have a knowledge of the limitations on working memory and decision making

during development• understand some of the problems of carrying out research into decision making• have a knowledge of research results


Decision making

• Knowing WHAT to do• Knowing WHEN to do it• Knowing WHERE to do it• Knowing which technique to use in any given

situation (Knapp, 1963)


A typical decision making situation from a basketball game. Does the player in possession of the ball pass or drive for the basket?


Working memory• An interactive workspace (Baddeley, 1986)• Responsible for:• problem solving• decision making• explicit learning


Working memory

• Consists of:• perception of present display held in STM• similar past experiences recalled from LTM

Perception Decision

STM

LTM

Input

WORKING MEMORY


CENTRAL

EXECUTIVE

Subdivisions of working memory

VISUOSPATIAL

SKETCHPAD

PHONOLOGICALLOOP

encoding of acoustic and verbal information

encoding of visual and visuospatial information

oversees and controls the whole process.


Central executive function Sporting example

Shifting between tasks or mental sets

Players switching attention from defence to attack when ball possession is won, but also reverting back to a defensive set if possession is lost.

Updating and monitoring working memory representations

A defender recalling what the attackers did in a similar situation previously but also being aware of differences between that situation and the present display

Inhibition of prepotent responses

A defender refusing to respond to a fake or dummy by an attacker

Planning Altering tactics to suit the situation

Coordination of multiple tasks

An attacker in a ball game controlling the ball while simultaneously making decisions

Selecting relevant sensory information

Gymnasts and divers being able to attach the correct weighting to visual, vestibular and proprioceptive information

CENTRAL EXECUTIVE TASKS IN SPORT


Long-term working memory(Ericsson and Kintsch, 1995)

• Practice leads to formation of LTWM• LTWM holds representation of situation plus response• Known as a situation-response interaction

• Perception of the situation and retrieval of the answer are simultaneous and automatic


SOMATOSENSORY

CORTEX

PRIMARY MOTOR

CORTEXSMA

PMC

SOMATOSENSORY

ASSOCIATION AREA

VISUAL

CORTEX

VISUAL

ASSOCIATION

AREA

CEREBELLUM

AUDITORY

CORTEX

AUDITORY

ASSOCIATION

AREA

PREFRONTAL

CORTEX

DLPFC

a

Main region of the brain involved in working memory is the prefrontal cortex especially the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Anterior cingulate cortex also plays a major role.

ANTERIOR CINGULATE

CORTEX

THALAMUS

BRAINSTEM

SPINAL

CORD


Dynamic systems theory and goal achievement

• We search the environment for affordances, i.e. what the environment allows us to do• The player will automatically react when the opportunity to achieve

the goal presents itself• Known as realization of the affordance

• What we are afforded depends on constraints• Task• Environmental• Organismic


Constraints

• Examples of constraints• Task

• Rules of the game• Whether you are in possession of the ball or not

• Environmental• Weather• Type of playing surface

• Organismic• Your and/or opponents

• Height• Weight• Power


Cognitive development

• Cognitive development affects decision making in sport• It also affects working memory performance in all walks of life


Developmental theories: Piaget

• A stage or phase theory• Sensorimotor phase (birth to 2 years)• Preoperational thought phase (2-7 years)

• Child is interested in ‘why’ and ‘how’ things occur• Can handle simple one v one type tasks

• Concrete operations phase (7-11 years) • Can respond to what the present environment affords• Can understand defensive duties such as marking an opponent

• Formal operations phase (11 years onward)• Has a systematic approach to problem solving• Can utilize cognitive restructuring skills, e.g. use of decoy runs


Developmental theories: mental space(Pascual-Leone, 1970)

• Everyone has a basic structural mental capacity• i.e. the number of distinct schemes that are available to the person• By 3 years the child has developed a basic mental capacity, called ‘e’• Every 2years, until about 15 years, the child adds one more scheme to his/her

initial e

• We also possess functional mental capacity• i.e. the amount of structural capacity that the person is able to utilize at any

given time

• Field independent children utilize a greater amount of structural capacity than do field dependent children


Ecological psychology approaches• There are no specific stages • Interaction with environment determines how advanced we will be• However, we do depend on genetic potentials


Genetic potentials(Bronfenbrenner, 1989)

• Genetic potentials determine strengths and weaknesses • Actualized genetic potentials are the amount of genetic potential that the individual is actually using at that given time.• Non-actualized genetic potential is the amount of ability not being utilized• The actualized/non-actualized genetic potential interaction is dependent on the environment


Research design issues in decision making

• Use of non-ecologically valid tests• e.g. use of slides of typical game situations, using a tachistoscopic timing

device • Use of pencil and paper tests• Use of verbal responses rather than motor responses

• Use of video tests has some potential


Research results

• Experts make faster decisions than novices and intermediate level players• Experts are generally, though not always, more accurate than novices

and intermediate performers• Older children do better than the younger ones but expertise, as

measured by experience, is often more important than age• Eye-mark recorder research shows that experts and novices use

different search patterns and fixations.


Summary

• Decision making refers to deciding what action to take in any given situation.• According to information processing theory it a working memory task• It depends on the comparison of information held in STM, concerning

the present situation, with past experience of similar situations, recalled from LTM• According to ecological psychology, decision making is dependent on

the affordances which the environment presents and the person being attuned to those affordances

companion website: decision making and working memory

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