Metacognition and action: a new pathway to understanding social and cognitive aspects of expertise in sport

Abstract

For over a century, psychologists have investigated the mental processes of expert performers – people who display exceptional knowledge and/or skills in specific fields of human achievement. Since the 1960s, expertise researchers have made considerable progress in understanding the cognitive and neural mechanisms that underlie such exceptional performance. Whereas the first modern studies of expertise were conducted in relatively formal knowledge domains such as chess, more recent investigations have explored elite performance in dynamic perceptual-motor activities such as sport. Unfortunately, although these studies have led to the identification of certain domain-free generalizations about expert-novice differences, they shed little light on an important issue: namely, experts’ metacognitive activities or their insights into, and regulation of, their own mental processes. In an effort to rectify this oversight, the present paper argues that metacognitive processes and inferences play an important if neglected role in expertise. In particular, we suggest that metacognition (including such processes as “meta-attention,” “meta-imagery” and “meta-memory,” as well as social aspects of this construct) provides a window on the genesis of expert performance. Following a critique of the standard empirical approach to expertise, we explore some research on “metacognition” and “metacognitive inference” among experts in sport. After that, we provide a brief evaluation of the relationship between psychological skills training and metacognition and comment on the measurement of metacognitive processes. Finally, we summarize our conclusions and outline some potentially new directions for research on metacognition in action.

What can medical educators learn from the Rio 2016 Olympic Games?

“…In particular, these approaches share a commonality which fundamental relate to the development of metacognitive and self-regulation skills in the athlete. In many of these sports activities, both individual and team, there is now greater emphasis on developing individuals who can dynamically adapt their strategies to the evolving situation at a given point in time, (MacIntyre et al 2014) such changing a particular style of play in response to a change in momentum within the game. An example would be to develop rowers who are able to negotiate the threat from crewing in boats who sprint off soon after the start of the race, but also keep enough energy in reserve for increasing their stroke rate to fend off any late challenges by others towards the end of the race.…”

Psychological perspectives on expertise

“…Fifth, MacIntyre et al (2014) propose that athletes are not just experts in movement execution but also in planning, metacognition, and reflection. Similarly, Toner and Moran (2014), extending Sutton et al's (2011) framework, argue that expert athletes do not completely automatize their skills and that an important component of their expertise is to be able to rapidly reflect on their movements.…”

Metacognitive Awareness in the Structure of Mental Self-Regulation in Students Involved and not Involved in Sports

“…According to research results, the effectiveness of mental self-regulation increases with mastering skills in various activities: educational, motor, labor [11,12]. However, the relationship between the development level of metacognitive processes and the features of the mental self-regulation structure is not sufficiently specified.…”