Non-consciously controlled decision making for fast motor reactions in sports - A priming approach for motor responses to non-consciously perceived movement features

Objective: Athletes in various game sports and combat sports execute motor reactions under time pressure to perceived movement sequences of opponents or team members without awareness of any particular trigger stimuli. In the past, this special form of decision making in sports has been primarily examined in studies on perceptual skills and, although less frequently, in studies on intuitive decision-making in sports. Although both lines of research have contributed essential knowledge to an understanding of this stimulus-reaction behavior under time pressure, a theoretical framework to comprehensively address the underlying cognitive processes as well as the acquisition and the execution of these motor responses is still in demand. Conclusion: In this position paper we assume that rapid motor reactions are primed by the perception of non-consciously represented movement features embedded in the movement sequences of sports partners. This particular form of perceptual identification of visual movement stimuli through fast motor reactions is argued to be based on a common coding of perceptual and action processes. Primed motor reactions rely on an earlier learning process in which the perception of non-consciously represented movement features is coupled with motor processes executing a fast motor response. A two-stage process is suggested to describe the acquisition and the execution of the reported motor reaction behavior. An extension of existing theories is presented for the explanation of fast motor reactions to non-consciously represented movement features under time pressure in game sports and combat sports. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.