Relationships between the magnitude of representational momentum and the spatial and temporal anticipatory judgments of opponent's kicks in taekwondo

Abstract

For successful actions in a fast, dynamic environment such as sports, a quick successful anticipation of a forthcoming environmental state is essential. However, the perceptual mechanisms involved in successful anticipation are not fully understood. This study examined the relationships between the magnitude of representational momentum (RM) as a forward displacement of the memory representation of the final position of a moving object (which implies that observers perceptually "see" a near future forthcoming dynamic environmental state) and the temporal and spatial anticipatory judgments of the opponent's high or middle kicks in taekwondo. Twenty-seven participants (university taekwondo club members and non-members) observed video clips of taekwondo kicks that vanished at one of 10 frame positions prior to the kick impact and performed three tasks consecutively: anticipatory coincidence timing (CT) with the arrival of kick impact, judgment of the kick type (high and middle kicks) by forced choice, and judgment of the vanishing frame position (measuring RM). Our results showed significant group effects for the number of correct kick-type judgments and the judgment threshold for kick-type choice (kick-typeJT), which was estimated in terms of individual psychometric function curves. A significant correlation was found between the magnitude of RM (estimated at kick-typeJT) and kick-typeJT, but not between the CT errors (estimated at kick-typeJT) and kick-typeJT. This indicates that the magnitude of RM may play an influential role in quick kick-type judgments, but not in coincidence timing while observing an opponent's kick motion. These findings suggest that subjective anticipatory perception or judgment of the future spatial state is vital to anticipatory actions under severe time constraints.

Keywords: anticipation; coincidence timing; kick-type judgment; representational momentum; sport expertise; taekwondo kick.

Figure 1

Video clip presentation of high and middle turning kicks as visual stimuli.

Figure 2

The means of (A) CT errors, (B) numbers of correct kick-type judgments, and (C) magnitudes of RM at 10 vanishing frame positions prior to impact frame position (Frame 0) for the club member (unfilled bar) and non-member (filled bar) groups.

Figure 3

Individual psychometric function curves for (A) club members and (B) non-members, and (C) the mean psychometric function curves for the club member and non-member groups. The individual kick-typeJT was determined at the vanishing frame position where the correct judgment rate was 75%.

Figure 4

(A) Mean kick-typeJTs for the club member and non-member groups, with the vertical bars indicating respective SDs. (B) Typical kick-motion postures at the nearest frame position of mean kick-typeJTs for club member (left) and non-member (right) groups.

Figure 5

Individual second-degree equation function curves of CT errors for (A) club members and (B) non-members, and (C) the mean second-degree equation function curves of CT errors for the club member and non-member groups. The unfilled circles indicate those at respective kick-typeJTs in the club member and non-member groups.

Figure 6

Mean CT errors estimated at kick-typeJT for the club member (unfilled bar) and non-member (filled bar) groups. The vertical bars indicate respective SDs for the club member and non-member groups.

Figure 7

Individual second-degree equation function curves of the magnitude of RM for (A) club members and (B) non-members, and (C) the mean second-degree equation function curves of the magnitude of RM for the club member and non-member groups. The unfilled circles indicate those at respective kick-typeJTs in the club member and non-member groups.

Figure 8

(A) Mean magnitudes of RM estimated at kick-typeJT and (B) the perceived frame positions at which kick-typeJT arose (kick-typeJT + the magnitude of RM estimated at kick-typeJT) for the club member (unfilled bar) and non-member (filled bar) groups. The vertical bars indicate respective SDs for the club member and non-member groups. (C) Typical kick-motion pictures at the nearest frame positions of perceived vanishing frames of kick motion for the club member (left) and non-member (right) groups.

Figure 9

Scattergrams for individual task scores between (A) kick-typeJTs and CT errors estimated at kick-typeJT, (B) kick-typeJTs and the magnitudes of RM estimated at kick-typeJT, and (C) CT errors and the magnitudes of RM estimated at kick-typeJT for club members (unfilled dots) and non-members (filled dots). The regression line depicted in (B) indicates that the correlation coefficient is significant.