Information processing

• Information processing.

  The methods by which data from the environment are collected and utilised.
• Input stage.

  Information picked up by the senses.
• Display.

  The sporting environment. For example, a rugby player will have their team mates, opponents, ball, pitch markings, posts, referee, linesman, crowd and coach in their display.
• Receptor systems.

  The senses that pick up information from the display e.g. vision, audition, (touch & kinaesthesis).
• Proprioceptors.

  The senses that provide internal information from within the body.
• Kinesthesis.

  The inner sense that gives information about body position and muscular tension.
• Selective attention.

  Filtering relevant information from irrelevant information.
• Stimuli.

  The important and relevant items of information from the display such as the flight of the ball.
• Perception.

  The process of coding and interpreting sensory information.
• Translatory mechanisms.

  Adapting and comparing coded information to memory so that decisions can be made. For example, selecting the motor programme for receiving a high ball.
• Effector mechanism.

  The network of nerves that sends coded impulses to the muscles. For example, impulses sent to quadriceps in legs to prepare for jump.
• Working memory.

  So named since it performs a number of functions.
• Central executive.

  The control centre of the working memory model, it uses three other 'systems' to control all the information moving in and out of the memory system.
• Phonological loop.

  Deals with auditory information from the senses and helps produce the memory trace. Memory trace is sent to the LTM to trigger the motor programme. The memory trace will fade away if its not rehearsed.
• Visuospatial sketchpad.

  Used to temporarily store visual and spatial information.
• Episode buffer.

  Co-ordinates the sight, hearing and movement information from the working memory into sequences to be sent to the long-term memory.
• Long-term memory (LTM).

  Receives information from the working memory and has unlimited capacity for the storage of motor programmes.
• Association.

  Linking the stored actions of a skill to a stored emotion or other action.
• Mental practice.

  Going over the action in the mind without physical movement.
• Chunking.

  Breaking the skilled action into parts or sub-routines e.g. trampoline coach 'chunks' three or four movements instead of the sequence as individual movements. Must avoid giving too much info - info overload.
• Initial conditions.

  Information from the environment. E.g. I am a centre player in netball, I have the ball in my hands and I am on the edge of the shooting circle. I have been in a similar situation before.
• Response specifications.

  Information about what to do based on initial conditions. E.g. I will send a short, flat, fast pass to the goal shooter, as she is quite near, before the defende recovers her position.
• Recall schema.

  Initiates movement, comes before the action. Includes intitial conditions and response specifications.
• Recognition schema.

  Controls movement, happens during the action. Includes sensory consequences and response outcome.
• Sensory consequences.

  Information about the feel of the movement using intrinsic feedback or kinaesthesis. E.g. as I passed the netball, i felt my elbows bend and I know that as it left my hands it felt correct with enough power and height.
• Response outcome.

  Feedback about the result. E.g. the pass was successfuly received by the goal shooter, and she went on to score a goal.
• Variable practice.

  Practising the skills and drills in a constantly changing environment
• Reaction time.

  The time taken from the onset of a stimulus to the onset of a response. Can be choice or simple.
• Movement time.

  The time taken to complete the task.
• Response time.

  The time taken from the onset of a stimulus to the completion of a task. Response time = Reaction time + Movement time.
• Hick's Law.

  Reaction time increases as the number of choices increases. It is not linear because reaction time does not increase proportionately with the number of choices.
• Psychological refractory period.

  A delay when a second stimulus is presented before the first has been processed, causing reaction time to increase. For example, an attacker 'dummying' a pass to the left. The defender will respond to the stimulus and move in that direction, and they are slower to respond to the second stimulus of the attacker running the opposite way.
• Anticipation.

  Pre-judging a stimulus. Can be temporal or spatial.
• Temporal anticipation.

  When it is going to happen e.g. a centre player in netball hearing the whistle can assume that the wing attack will run into the centre third to receive the pass immediately.
• Spatial anticipation.

  Where and what is going to happen. For example, seeing a rugby player adjust their grip on the ball you predict they are going to kick over the top of the full back rather than pass.
• What are the functions of the perceptual mechanisms and the effector mechanisms?

  Perceptual mechanisms:

  •A judgement is made regarding the incoming

  information received by the sense organs.

  •Includes the DCR process (detection - receive

  cues; comparison - cues compared with

  those already stored in the memory system;

  recognition - understand what response is

  required based on the stored memories).

  •Selective attention occurs. Only the relevant

  information is acted upon, while the irrelevant

  information is disregarded.

  
  

  Effector mechanisms:

  •Decision is put into action by sending impulses to

  the relevant working muscles in order to carry

  out the movement.
• What are the functions of the central executive and episodic buffer?

  Central executive:

  • Maintains overall control

  • Links with the long-term memory

  • Focuses and switches attention

  • Identifies which information goes to which

  subsystem.

  
  

  Episodic buffer:

  • Stores three/four chunks or 'episodes'

  • Allows different parts of working memory

  system to talk to each other

  • Produces sequences of information to send to the LTM

  • Gathers perceptual information
• What are the characteristics and functions of the working memory?

  • Receives the relevant information that has

  been filtered away from the irrelevant by

  selective attention

  • Limited capacity - stores 7 +/− 2 items

  • Limited duration - up to approximately 30

  seconds

  • Practice/rehearsal required to transfer to and

  store information in the LTM

  • Produces a memory trace

  • Compares information to that stored in the LTM

  • Initiates the motor programme
• Define reaction time, movement time and response time.

  Reaction time = time from the onset of the

  stimulus to the onset of the response

  
  

  Movement time = time from the onset of the

  movement to the completion of the task

  
  

  Response time is reaction time plus movement

  time - time from the onset of the stimulus to the

  completion of the task
• Define anticipation and explain the difference between temporal and spatial anticipation.


  Anticipation - predicting that a movement will

  happen before it occurs

  Temporal - predicting when the action will be

  performed

  Spatial - predicting what action is going to be

  performed and where