Perception-Action Loops
Good movement requires good perception. When a gymnast does a backflip on a balance beam, she needs accurate perception about her body position relative to the beam. Even simple tasks like walking can’t be done efficiently without a good sense of foot position relative to the knee and hip and ground. So if you want to move well, you need to perceive well.
The reverse is also true, and this is far less intuitive - if you want to perceive well, you need to move well. This insight comes from the ecological psychologist James Gibson, who noted that perception is a very active process. Think of an eye moving left and right to see its surroundings, or hands pawing around in the dark to find a lost object. These are “epistemic” movements — their purpose is to gather information that will help you solve some problem. You are moving to perceive.
All movements serve at least some epistemic purpose. Each time you reach out with your foot to take a step, you are searching for sensory feedback from the ground that will tell you about the surface we are walking on, and the exact position of the foot relative to the ankle, knee and hip. When I draw my pool cue back to strike the ball, I’m searching for a position that gives me a good sense of the cue in the hand. Good technique in side shuffling in basketball or tennis keeps the head level, so the eyes can accurately track the opponent or ball. Outfielders accurately perceive ball flight through body movement that keeps the ball moving in a constant path across the visual field. The right movements deliver the right information at the right time.
Here’s a reason this matters. Because perception and action work together, it’s very hard to effectively practice a movement skill unless you simultaneously practice the related perceptual skills.
For example, you wouldn’t train to catch fly balls by practicing running one day, and then stationary visual ball tracking the next. But similar mistakes occur in athletic training. A good example is trying to train agility by running around cones in rehearsed patterns. In sport, agility is about changing running direction in response to some visual cue, such as the movement of an opponent, or the ball. When you run in choreographed patterns, the perceptual challenge is removed. The resulting practice might be effective in developing a specific kind of fitness in the lower body, but it will not build links between perception and action that are critical for real-life agility. When a running back is trying to evade tacklers, he must constantly monitor the environment and make decisions about where to go. More importantly, he must maintain the balance and “reversibility” to change directions if the need arises. When you know exactly what movements you need to perform in advance, you aren’t challenged to improve anticipation, dexterity and balance.
Based on these considerations, coaches influenced by systems thinking try to make sure practice sessions keep perception and action “coupled.” In effect, this means that practice should usually look more like a game, and less like a repetitive drill. For example, in soccer, small-sided games (e.g., four on four), are preferred to choreographed passing drills. For evasive agility, the most fundamental training is some version of the most basic game of all, played by every animal and child — tag.
These ideas can be applied to make common exercise programs more engaging and functional. Running on a treadmill at exactly the same speed, mile after mile, is a different experience from running on a trail, where you must scan the surroundings, and make adjustments to speed, posture, and foot placement. The trail is an environmental constraint that causes you to spontaneously adopt a technique that will make you more dexterous. Your physical activity now involves a component of skill and visual attention, making it a richer and more multidimensional experience.
Similarly, resistance training with free weights or bodyweight is a different experience from applying force to machines that move along predetermined pathways. The machine removes all perceptual demands related to sensing the position of the weight, and making corrections to ensure balance is maintained. This is why people are rarely passionate about machine training, but often develop a keen interest in powerlifting, kettlebells, gymnastics, bodyweight training, Pilates, yoga, or other kinds of exercise that involve a perceptive challenge. When action stays coupled with perception, movement feels more playful, interesting, and meaningful.
The preceding was an adapted excerpt from my new book Playing With Movement: How to Explore the Many Dimensions of Performance and Health.