Individual differences provide a nuanced understanding of the contributions of age, experience, and level played to superior perceptual-cognitive-motor skill
Theories of expertise either predict superior performance is due to monotonic and progressive exposure to a domain task or due to non-linear exposure to a domain. The aim of this study was to explore the predictions of these theories by use of an individual differences approach to investigate how ag...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-04-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1470789/full |
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| author | Khaya Morris-Binelli Minerva A. Westbrook Benjamin Piggott Sean Müller Paola Chivers Paola Chivers |
| author_facet | Khaya Morris-Binelli Minerva A. Westbrook Benjamin Piggott Sean Müller Paola Chivers Paola Chivers |
| author_sort | Khaya Morris-Binelli |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Theories of expertise either predict superior performance is due to monotonic and progressive exposure to a domain task or due to non-linear exposure to a domain. The aim of this study was to explore the predictions of these theories by use of an individual differences approach to investigate how age, experience, and level played within a sample of athletes with high expertise contributes to superior perceptual-cognitive-motor skill. Twenty-seven players sampled from junior rugby union high-performance pathways and professional rugby union teams in Australia completed an in-situ perceptual-cognitive-motor test involving four attackers and three defenders. Participants were presented with scenarios representative of a typical game and had to decide whether, and who, to pass the ball, execute the pass, or run with the ball. Performance was scored based upon an expert coach rating scale. Results indicated significant individual differences were more pronounced for decision-making, than for motor execution components of the task. Superior decision-making was not dependent solely upon greater experience in playing rugby union, nor age or level played. Further, superior decision-making was not solely dependent upon those participants who specialized in positional play during the typical game scenarios. Findings indicate that theories of expertise may need to accommodate that prolonged exposure to a domain does not provide a complete explanation of expert performance and that the capability to make effective decisions is highly individualized. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-9a8ebb46e7b44dba896b272dc19bb746 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj-art-9a8ebb46e7b44dba896b272dc19bb7462025-08-20T03:14:53ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782025-04-011610.3389/fpsyg.2025.14707891470789Individual differences provide a nuanced understanding of the contributions of age, experience, and level played to superior perceptual-cognitive-motor skillKhaya Morris-Binelli0Minerva A. Westbrook1Benjamin Piggott2Sean Müller3Paola Chivers4Paola Chivers5School of Health Sciences, The University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle, WA, AustraliaSchool of Health Sciences, The University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle, WA, AustraliaSchool of Health Sciences, The University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle, WA, AustraliaCentre for Smart Analytics, Federation University, Ballarat, VIC, AustraliaInstitute for Health Research, The University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle, WA, AustraliaSchool of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, WA, AustraliaTheories of expertise either predict superior performance is due to monotonic and progressive exposure to a domain task or due to non-linear exposure to a domain. The aim of this study was to explore the predictions of these theories by use of an individual differences approach to investigate how age, experience, and level played within a sample of athletes with high expertise contributes to superior perceptual-cognitive-motor skill. Twenty-seven players sampled from junior rugby union high-performance pathways and professional rugby union teams in Australia completed an in-situ perceptual-cognitive-motor test involving four attackers and three defenders. Participants were presented with scenarios representative of a typical game and had to decide whether, and who, to pass the ball, execute the pass, or run with the ball. Performance was scored based upon an expert coach rating scale. Results indicated significant individual differences were more pronounced for decision-making, than for motor execution components of the task. Superior decision-making was not dependent solely upon greater experience in playing rugby union, nor age or level played. Further, superior decision-making was not solely dependent upon those participants who specialized in positional play during the typical game scenarios. Findings indicate that theories of expertise may need to accommodate that prolonged exposure to a domain does not provide a complete explanation of expert performance and that the capability to make effective decisions is highly individualized.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1470789/fullexpertisefield testRugby unioninvasion sportdecision-making |
| spellingShingle | Khaya Morris-Binelli Minerva A. Westbrook Benjamin Piggott Sean Müller Paola Chivers Paola Chivers Individual differences provide a nuanced understanding of the contributions of age, experience, and level played to superior perceptual-cognitive-motor skill Frontiers in Psychology expertise field test Rugby union invasion sport decision-making |
| title | Individual differences provide a nuanced understanding of the contributions of age, experience, and level played to superior perceptual-cognitive-motor skill |
| title_full | Individual differences provide a nuanced understanding of the contributions of age, experience, and level played to superior perceptual-cognitive-motor skill |
| title_fullStr | Individual differences provide a nuanced understanding of the contributions of age, experience, and level played to superior perceptual-cognitive-motor skill |
| title_full_unstemmed | Individual differences provide a nuanced understanding of the contributions of age, experience, and level played to superior perceptual-cognitive-motor skill |
| title_short | Individual differences provide a nuanced understanding of the contributions of age, experience, and level played to superior perceptual-cognitive-motor skill |
| title_sort | individual differences provide a nuanced understanding of the contributions of age experience and level played to superior perceptual cognitive motor skill |
| topic | expertise field test Rugby union invasion sport decision-making |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1470789/full |
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