Cognitive Knowledge and Soccer Performance

Abstract

This study tested the proposition that experienced soccer players exhibit greater task-specific cognitive knowledge than novice players. 12 experienced and 12 inexperienced subjects viewed structured and unstructured soccer action sequences on a 3.65-m2 video projection screen. In recalling specific player positions following brief 10-sec. film clips, inexperienced players had larger recall of errors than the experienced players on structured trials only. This indicated that experienced players' cognitive knowledge permitted more meaninghl associations between players1 positions resulting in more efficient retrieval. When recognition of previously viewed film clips was examined, experienced subjects were more accurate in recognising structured trials only. Experienced soccer players seem to have a more complex and discriminating organisation of long-term memory which facilitates the encoding of task-specific information.

Difference in declarative tactical knowledge between U-11 and U-15 soccer players

“…Studies have shown that players with higher tactical knowledge in sport show higher performance [4,5]. A higher tactical knowledge facilitates access to information contained in the work memory, thus aiding in the accomplishment of tasks [6,7].…”

A eficiência do comportamento tático e a data de nascimento influenciam a performance tática de jogadores de futebol da categoria sub-11?

“…Another important information to be included is the modality practice time, because it seams to in uence on athletes' performance 26 .…”

Reading and writing the game: tactical skills in team sports

“…Due to more highly developed tactical skills, expert athletes are better able to select the appropriate response for a situation within the context of the game's goal structure, based on less information, and can do so more quickly than novice athletes (Thomas et al, 1986;Williams et al, 1993). It is suggested that the difference between experts and novices is that experts can 'read the game' quicker and more accurately than novices (Baker et al, 2003b).…”

“…Cognitive psychologists have used propositional-type analyses of subjects' think-aloud protocols whereas others measured tactical skills with picture or film slides of game situations (Allard and Burnett, 1985;Allard et al, 1993;Chamberlain and Coelho, 1993), by using the opinion of expert coaches, or through self-assessment . Most studies assessing tactical skills in experimental test situations in a laboratory setting had subjects view action sequences on a video projection screen (Bard et al, 1994;Helsen and Starkes, 1999;McMorris and Graydon, 1997;Williams et al, 1993). This design, however, does not account for the fact that response execution affects response selection since the athletes were only required to state which decision they thought was correct (response selection); they were not required to execute it (response execution).…”

“…In such games, players have to deal with a complex and rapidly changing environment while invading the opposing team's area of the field in order to score (Almond, 1986;Hughes and Bartlett, 2002;Williams, 2000). Success requires that players of all ages have well-developed physiological and technical characteristics in addition to cognitive skills as well (French and Thomas, 1987;Helsen and Starkes, 1999;Nougier and Rossi, 1999;Starkes, 1987;Williams et al,1993). The integration of physical, technical and cognitive skills is generally apparent in studies showing that many talented athletes not only perform well in sports but also in school settings (Jonker et al, 2009).…”