There are three main types of stimuli that enter the sensory input these are;
Vision: is where a player will react to a visual stimulus such as the position of the ball or an opponent. These stimuli are easier to detect and react to if the stimulus is brighter. For example in tennis the ball is bright yellow which makes it easier to see. But there are also unwanted stimuli such as ball boys moving or crowd movements these stimuli are obviously irrelevant but they are still initially taken in which slows down the whole process. In an individual sport there are fewer visual stimuli for example in a 100m race the only real visual stimulus is where the finish line is in relation to you.
Audition: this is all stimuli that are heard, for example when a team mate calls for the ball in rugby. Auditable stimuli are heard and processed easier and faster if they are loud and clear. There are also irrelevant auditable stimuli such as crowd noise these will slow down the information processing model.
Proprioception: this is made up of three components;
Equilibrium: this is an awareness of your body position and balance. We can tell if we are about to fall over and where we are in relation to objects. Team sports are more likely to have an uneven playing surface which means that your balance will have to be constantly adjusted as you are running. But in individual and racquet sports the playing surface is fairly constant with the exception of golf, where a stance may have to be altered to adjust to the surface.
Kinaesthesis: this is where the body senses the muscle movement and contraction it is sometimes known as muscle memory. It is if the movement “feels” right to the performer. It is developed through practice and experience one example would be a conversion kick in rugby the player may take there step away from the ball in the same way they usually do but they may just “feel” that they are not in the right place. It doesn’t apply as much in team games as in individual and racquet sports apart from set plays.
Tactile sense: this is the feeling of pressure this is important for all sports. It can be affected be the weather conditions because cold weather affects our ability to feel effectively.
The short term sensory store is where all information is stored for a split second before it is processed. All relevant and irrelevant information is stored in here before it is replaced and lost. This does not differ between sports only what enters it does.
The perception stage is where all the information that has come from the short term sensory store is processed. This is when irrelevant information is thrown away and useful stimuli such as where the ball is, is kept to make a decision and stored in the STM. This will vary between individual, racquet and team sports because of the amount of stimuli. In team sports there are more stimuli so it takes longer to sort through whereas there are relatively small amounts of stimuli in individual sports so it won’t take as long to sort them out. It also differs depending upon whether the performer is experienced or not as it will be easier for a expert to sort through the stimuli because they have more experience. We sort through the stimuli with selective attention and take only the important pieces of information because only around 7-10 pieces of information can be stored in the STM.
The information passed on from the perception stage is then stored in the STM. Because only 7-10 pieces of information can be stored an experienced player may “chunk” information together so that the position of all players is one piece, but a beginner may not be able to do this so each player may be a separate piece. Team sports would be much more affected because of the amount of information so not all stimuli can be stored so a poor decision may be made but less poor decisions will be made in an individual or racquet sport because there is less information.
The LTM holds information on movement patterns and the results of using them in certain situations and can hold them for a lifetime. Team sports have many memories but individual sports may have less.
The decision making process is where what’s happening now (in the short term memory) with what has happened previously (in the long term memory). In the LTM the performer will be looking for similar situations and actions and their outcomes. This makes team games decision making process a lot longer because of the vast amount of information and possible actions to take. Whereas in an individual sport there is much less information and less possible actions.
The motor output is the performance of the chosen skill. One example may be for a badminton player to put in a drop shot because the opponent is at the back of the court. The action is referred to the muscle movement in the LTM. The action and its consequences are then stored in the long term memory for future reference.
Individual sports, because they are individually paced, make them the simplest in the IP model. Also because there are fewer stimuli there is a shorter reaction time which gives the performer more time to carry out the IP model which should result in a better decision.
Racquet sports are externally paced due to the fact that there is an opponent; this means that there is less time for the performer to react. There are some irrelevant stimuli which will slow down the IP model which means it takes longer to decide than in an individual sport but not as long as in a team sport because there are fewer possibilities for what action to take.
Team sports are externally paced which reduces the time available to react. Also there are much more irrelevant stimuli in team sports, this will lengthen the IP. The IP will also be lengthened due to the complexity of most team games because there are more situations and possible responses to choose from.
Bibliography
Advanced PE for Edexcel Heinemann by F. Galligan et al.
