Information Processing Questions

During a team game such as volleyball, peformers will use their senses to detect stimuli.

A) State three of the major senses used in volleyball:

• Hearing
• Seeing
• Touching

B) Breifly Explain the three processes that occur as part of the perceptual mechanism

Information is recieved via the sense organs and is stored in the STSS, selective attention is then used to pick out the relevant information, the relevant information is then focussed on and will be retained in the short term memory. From the short term memory the information will then be focussed on again and transferred to the long term memory to compare to previous situations, information from the long term memory will then be transferred to the short term memory and acted upon.

A) To be effective games players need to use selective attention. Explain the term selective attention and give examples of its use from a game of your choice.

Selective attention is when you focus on the relevant information received from the display. In a game of basketball if you were looking to pass a the ball, you would receive lots of information from the display such as the score bored, the audience, cheering, your coach, opponents, the basket, your teammates etc. In this situation you would have to use selective attention to focus on the relevant information which include the position of your teammates and the position of the opposing team

B) How can a coach improve a players selective attention?

• By making the cues more obvious
• By directing the performers attention to the more important cues
• By making the cues more unusual to draw their attention to it

A basic information processing system consists of perception, translation. Explain what you understand by these terms, using appropriate examples from a named game.

• Perception in a game of basketball would be acquiring the information from the display, your teammates, your opponents, the supporters, the score board etc. You would then interpret this information and select the relevant information therefore in a pass you would focus on the position of your team and the opposing team.
• Translation in a game of basketball would be being in a position where you have to pass the ball, you would then compare the situation you are in with situations you have been in before that are stored in your long term memory. When you have found a suitable comparison this would then be translated to your short term memory for you to be able to perform the skill.

Short term memory:

Is a store of limited capacity and limited duration, it is known as your working memory and information is retained by rehearsal. It controls muscle movement and intrinsic feedback, it also initiates your response.

Long term memory:

Is a store of unlimited capacity and duration, it holds information about all previously performed movements. It works alongside your STM to compare skills being performed and previously performed skills in order to find a motor programme to use

Suggest how a coach might help the retention of newly learned skills by a performer:

• Ensure the performer continues to practice the skill so they are used to dealing with the information
• By associating the information with previously learned information, which is linked with chaining