Affordances in Interaction: The Case of Aikido

Abstract

Our title can be read as trivially true, namely, that perceived affordances shape real-time interaction dynamics. A less trivial reading suggests that affordances themselves interact in a shared dyadic field, such that the number and quality of As and Bs affordances are dynamically coupled with bidirectional causality. In dance, martial arts, or team sports agents strategically comodulate each other's affordances while pursuing their aims. In Aikido, where agents try to break their opponents' balance, this trade-off globally approximates a zero-sum game-the better A's affordances are, the lousier B's affordances get. The agents are subject to ceaseless cross-causation in this shared field. They seek to obstruct their opponents' options while strategically enabling, augmenting, and sculpting their own by employing subtle perceptual manipulation skills, redirecting force, brinkmanship, and switching techniques opportunistically. To overcome static views, we conceptualize affordances as cascading and having fluid onsets; we also identify nested affordances in goal hierarchies and describe a spectrum of affordance functions. Ultimately, we suggest rethinking the ontology of affordances as being sensitive to dynamic engagements, hence defined relative to interpersonal emergence.

Goalkeeping in the soccer penalty kick

“…Accurate recalibration, however, requires practice and experience (see Fajen, 2005Fajen, , 2007; van der Kamp & Renshaw, 2015 on how actors can learn to recalibrate). In fact, this sensitivity to situational constraints and one's action boundaries highlights the actor's adaptability as a prime characteristic of expertise (see also Kimmel & Rogler, 2018).…”

“…It is significant to recognize that the goalkeepers' affordance perception in the penalty kick situation emerges from the interaction with the penalty taker. The two players have diametrically opposing goals, resulting in very complex affordance dynamics (Kimmel & Rogler, 2018). The penalty taker will act in ways that dissolves the goalkeepers' perception of the ball being stoppable (i. e., they will try to 'increase' the required velocity beyond a goalkeeper's maximum velocity).…”

“…Paraphrasing Kimmel and Rogler (2018), who used affordance-based control to describe analogous antagonistic encounters in combat sports, goalkeepers 'are quickly lost when their sustaining actions are a bit off or the opponent's counteractions increase a tad' . In this respect, Kimmel and Rogler (2018) refer to brinkmanship. The expert athlete pursues a difficult strategy to the limits of what is possible.…”

Combat as an Interpersonal Synergy: An Ecological Dynamics Approach to Combat Sports

“…Affordances are not static but constantly emerge, evolve, and decay during person–environment interactions [10]. These dynamics are especially apparent during interpersonal interaction, where the actions of one person invite some behaviors of the second person while discouraging other actions [4, 19]. Marsh and colleagues call for the need to study interpersonal interaction as an emerging feature from the temporary coupling between two persons [14, 35, 36].…”

“…We hypothesize that in agreement with findings in other sports, breaking and restoring symmetry are key to performance within combat sports. A noticeable difference between combat sports and other competitive sport dyads is that in combat both athletes are constantly switching between attack and defense—a switch that can readily take place whilst in the middle of an attack [1, 4, 9]. Within ball sports, there are clear roles of attackers and defenders.…”