Episode 13 (Pt1): The role of cognition in sport performance with Duarte Araujo
Aug 7, 2024
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Duarte Araujo, director of Expertise in Sport at the University of Lisbon, shares his insights on the critical role of cognition in athletic performance. He delves into how cognition and ecological dynamics intertwine, pushing for a holistic understanding shaped by environmental interaction. Duarte discusses the complexities of memory, emphasizing its significance beyond muscle memory. He critiques traditional coaching methods, advocating for future-focused learning that enhances athletes' adaptability and problem-solving skills in dynamic situations.
Cognition in sports is an integrated process involving the body and environment, highlighting the importance of active engagement over internal mental functions.
The ecological approach in coaching prioritizes fostering athletes' knowledge of the environment, encouraging real-time problem-solving over relying solely on pre-defined solutions.
Deep dives
The Role of Cognition in Ecological Dynamics
Cognition is viewed within ecological dynamics as an integrated process involving the body and environment, rather than being solely a function of the brain. This perspective challenges the traditional cognitive psychology approach, which often perceives cognition as something that happens internally. By emphasizing the relation between cognition and action, this model highlights that cognition is an active engagement with the environment that helps achieve task goals. The overarching idea is that understanding cognition as a participatory act, rather than a mental state, allows for a more holistic approach to human behavior.
Historical Context and Philosophical Foundations
The historical dominance of cognitive psychology is rooted in philosophical traditions that emphasize a mind-body dualism, which has influenced perceptions of human behavior for centuries. Critics of ecological dynamics often cite this longstanding framework as justification for dismissing cognitive components in understanding behavior. This discussion underscores the importance of recognizing the philosophical foundations of the theories being followed, which can often remain implicit in scientific discourse. By challenging entrenched beliefs and providing a more nuanced understanding of cognition, ecological dynamics seeks to reshape discussions around human performance.
Memory versus Knowledge in Performance
The concepts of memory and knowledge play distinct but interconnected roles in human performance, as articulated in ecological dynamics. Memory is not limited to mental representations; instead, it encompasses bodily changes that occur over time, effectively altering how individuals perform tasks. This view posits that successful performance relies on perception-action capabilities rather than relying solely on past representations. The understanding of memory as a dynamic aspect of the entire system challenges the notion of fixed templates, emphasizing the variability inherent in each unique interaction within an environment.
Coaching Practices and Ecological Dynamics
In coaching, the distinction between knowledge of the environment and knowledge about the environment is vital for effective athlete development. Coaches focusing too heavily on knowledge about the environment, which involves imparting pre-defined solutions, may restrict athletes from exploring functional task solutions themselves. Instead, fostering knowledge of the environment encourages athletes to engage directly with their context, solving problems in real-time. Ultimately, the ecological approach shifts the coach's role from serving as a sole provider of information to guiding learners through their own exploratory processes.
This week we are joined by Duarte Araújo to discuss the role of cognition in sport performance. Duarte is the director of Expertise in Sport at the Faculty of Human Kinetics at the University of Lisbon, Portugal.
Duarte is also the head of the Interdisciplinary Centre for the study of Human Performance (CIPER) a national research unit funded by the Portuguese Government. His research influences applied practice all over the world, which includes sport expertise, decision-making, cognition and affordances for physical activity.
Duarte has published more than 200 papers in scientific journals mainly about expertise, team performance, variability, cognition and decision-making.
Enjoy the show!
P.S. part two will be out next week.
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