In a hypothesis-and-theory paper, a functional approach to movement analysis in sports is introduced. In this approach, contrary to classical concepts, it is not anymore the “ideal” movement of elite athletes that is taken as a template for the movements produced by learners. Instead, movements are understood as the means to solve given tasks that in turn, are defined by to-be-achieved task goals. A functional analysis comprises the steps of (1) recognising constraints that define the functional structure, (2) identifying sub-actions that subserve the achievement of structure-dependent goals, (3) explicating modalities as specifics of the movement execution, and (4) assigning functions to actions, sub-actions and modalities. Regarding motor-control theory, a functional approach can be linked to a dynamical-system framework of behavioural shaping, to cognitive models of modular effect-related motor control as well as to explicit concepts of goal setting and goal achievement. Finally, it is shown that a functional approach is of particular help for sports practice in the context of structuring part practice, recognising functionally equivalent task solutions, finding innovative technique alternatives, distinguishing errors from style, and identifying root causes of movement errors.

In human movement science, it is widely accepted that random practice generally enhances complex motor-skill learning compared to repetitive practice. In two experiments, a particular variability-related concept is put to empirical test, namely the concept of differencial learning (DL), which assumes (i) that learners should not be distracted from task-space exploration by corrections, and (ii) that learning is facilitated by large inter-trial fluctuations. In both experiments, the advantage of DL over repetitive learning was not statistically significant. Moreover, learning was more pronounced when participants either received corrections in addition to DL (Exp. 1) or practiced in an order in which differences between consecutive trials were relatively small (Exp. 2). These findings suggest that the positive DL effects reported in literature cannot be attributed to the reduction of feedback or to the increase of inter-trial fluctuations. These results are discussed in the light of the structural-learning approach and the two-state model of motor learning in which structure-related learning effects are distinguished from the capability to adapt to current changes.

The paralysis-by-analysis phenomenon, i.e., attending to the execution of one's movement impairs performance, has gathered a lot of attention over recent years (see Wulf, 2007, for a review). Explanations of this phenomenon, e.g., the hypotheses of constrained action (Wulf et al., 2001) or of step-by-step execution (Masters, 1992; Beilock et al., 2002), however, do not refer to the level of underlying mechanisms on the level of sensorimotor control. For this purpose, a “nodal-point hypothesis” is presented here with the core assumption that skilled motor behavior is internally based on sensorimotor chains of nodal points, that attending to intermediate nodal points leads to a muscular re-freezing of the motor system at exactly and exclusively these points in time, and that this re-freezing is accompanied by the disruption of compensatory processes, resulting in an overall decrease of motor performance. Two experiments, on lever sequencing and basketball free throws, respectively, are reported that successfully tested these time-referenced predictions, i.e., showing that muscular activity is selectively increased and compensatory variability selectively decreased at movement-related nodal points if these points are in the focus of attention.

The present study aims to reveal the effects of positioning on decision-making performance in top-level refereeing in association football. To this end, for all 64 matches of the FIFA World Cup 2014, potential foul-play situations were videometrically analysed in terms of the referee’s position relative to the infringement. Contrary to earlier studies, viewing angles were analysed in addition to viewing distances and error rates were considered for not only falsely whistled but also falsely non-whistled events. Moreover, direct logistic regression analysis was applied to detect position-dependent differences. For the total of 1,527 potential foul play situations, an overall low error rate of 6.9% was found. The similar numbers of total whistle (n = 52) and non-whistle errors (n = 54) reflect referees’ ability to balance both types of errors. Regarding the overall viewing-distance effect, referees were 2.58 times (95% CI 1.47–4.54) more likely to commit a whistle error at 10–15 m and 5.51 times (95% CI 1.35–22.47) more likely to commit a non-whistle error at 0–5 m, corresponding to the position ranges occurring with the highest (10–15 m: 30.3%) and lowest (0–5 m: 5.8%) frequencies. In contrast, no significant effects of viewing-angle on decision-making accuracy could be revealed.