Ecological Dynamics: A Theoretical Framework for Understanding Sport Performance, Physical Education and Physical Activity

Abstract

This paper focuses on the role of Ecological Dynamics as a theoretical framework for analysing performance of athletes and sports teams as complex adaptive systems. It combines key concepts from ecological psychology and nonlinear dynamical system theory, seeking to enhance understanding of performance and learning contexts in sport, to aid the acquisition and transfer of adaptive human behaviours. In ecological psychology the continuous regulation of human behaviour is predicated on the role of information that emerges from the individual-environment system to guide activity. The information sources that constrain performance behaviours are affordances, which provide invitations for action offered by each individual's perception of functional relations with a performance environment. This information-based approach has been enhanced with the integration of tools and concepts from nonlinear dynamics to explain how information is cyclically related to the dynamics of a performance environment. Dynamical systems theory addresses the emergence of coordination tendencies that exist between and within components and levels of complex neurobiological systems. Ecological Dynamics identifies key properties of expertise in sport predicated on the performer-environment relationship as the appropriate scale of analysis. This paper introduces the key properties of expert movement systems that include multi-and meta-stability, the functional role of adaptive movement variability, redundancy, degeneracy and the attunement to affordances. Additionally, we discuss the concept of representative design, which in an ecological dynamics framework underpins the organisation of experimental and learning environments so that observations and acquired skills can be linked to emergent functional behaviours in a specific performance context.

The Micro-Genesis of Interpersonal Synergy. Insights from Improvised Dance Duets

“…Ongoing work by my team suggests that, to coordinate their interaction, acrobats draw on (partly) shared event schemas and on cue signals developed through their joint practice history. This is interesting in view of debates about preprocess coordination (Eccles & Tenenbaum 2004;Steiner et al, 2017) where prior shared knowledge partly constrains synergy assembly in addition to real-time participatory practices (Ara ujo et al, 2006;Seifert & Davids, 2017;Gesbert et al 2017;cf. Knoblich et al, 2011, p.…”

Optimal Development of Youth Athletes Toward Elite Athletic Performance: How to Coach Their Motivation, Plan Exercise Training, and Pace the Race

“…Recent literature suggests that human-environment interactions, such as those experienced when competing against opponents, play an essential role in regulating pacing (Smits et al, 2014 ; Hettinga et al, 2017 ; Konings and Hettinga, 2018 ). The emphasis placed on the human-environment interaction is analogous to contemporary frameworks of sport performance rooted in ecological dynamics (Seifert and Davids, 2017 ), including the constraints-led approach to skill acquisition (Davids et al, 2008 ; Renshaw and Chow, 2019 ). Inherent within these theoretical approaches is the idea that perception and action are causally and cyclically related (Handford et al, 1997 ; Kugler and Turvey, 2015 ).…”

How and why do soccer coaches use small-sided games in the training process?

“…The new training methods aim to develop simultaneously the physical, technical, and tactical psychological aspects through a practice that is more ecological and contextualized with the char-acteristics of the competition [33][34][35]. According to the ecological dynamics, intentional behaviour and decision making result from the interaction between the players and the competitive context, influenced by the information coming from the competition [9,36,37].…”

“…It is essential for them to construct training exercises that develop the players' understanding and ability to quickly respond to the demands of the game [33]. It is important that training recreates situations close to the competitive reality for players and team to experience them, since knowledge and memory are important in information processing [9,40]. SSGs are an important strategy for coaches to develop individual and collective performance in solving game situations on the basis of team coordination, game moments, and tactical principles of team play [6,10,38].…”

“…The use of specific exercises in the training session improves individual and the team's collective performance [6]. Therefore, training exercises should stimulate perception-action cycles [7], as characteristic of the competition context, through manipulating practice areas (e.g., field width and length) and game objectives and rules (task conditions) [8,9]. Applying small-sided games (SSGs) allows to coordinate players at different moments of the game and promote tactical principles that guide the playing style of the team [10,11].…”