In 2017, Di Paolo, Buhrmann, and Barandiarán proposed a list of criteria that post-cognitivist theories of learning should fulfill. In this article, we review the ecological theory of direct learning. We argue that this theory fulfills most of the criteria put forward by Di Paolo et al. and that its tools and concepts can be useful to other post-cognitivist theories of learning. Direct learning holds that improvements with practice are driven by information for learning that can be found in the dynamic organism-environment interaction. The theory formally describes information for learning as a vector field that spans a space with all the perception-action couplings that may be used to perform an action. Being located at a point of such a space means using a specific perception-action coupling. Changes in perception-action couplings due to learning can be represented as paths across the space, and can be explained with the vector field of information for learning. Previous research on direct learning considered actions that were best understood with single perception-action couplings. To conclude the article, and inspired by the criteria of Di Paolo et al., we discuss an extension of the theory to actions that are best understood with multiple perception-action couplings.
The present research analyzes the relation between the height of penalty kicks in association football and (a) the probability that goalkeepers stop the ball, (b) the kinematics of the kicker, and (c) the movements of the goalkeeper. We reanalyzed movement registration data that were collected in an experiment (with professional and semi-professional players) that focused on the horizontal direction of the penalties (Lopes et al., 2014). We also digitized and analyzed regular videos of the goalkeepers that were recorded by Lopes et al. (2014) but not analyzed. The present research complements the current understanding of the penalty kick with three main observations. First, goalkeepers save penalties at middle heights more often than low and high penalties. Second, the height of penalties is predicted less clearly than their horizontal direction from the kinematics of penalty takers. Third, goalkeepers tend to initiate the horizontal component of the saving action before the penalty taker contacts the ball, but they initiate the vertical component of the action about 245 ms after the contact. Taken together, these results support the view that goalkeepers make the left-right decision at least partly focusing on the kinematics of the kicker, and that they dynamically decide the vertical aspects of the movement later, focusing on the ball trajectory.
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