The Cognition and Neuroscience group focuses on the mechanisms underpinning skilled performance and how its acquisition may be facilitated through effective practice and instruction. Scientists working in the group have backgrounds in cognitive psychology, neuroscience, motor control and learning, instructional systems design, human factors, sport science and coaching science, which permits a multi-disciplinary approach to the study of human performance with a particular focus on expertise and its acquisition.

The group is particularly interested in identifying the perceptual-cognitive skills underlying superior anticipation and decision-making in time-constrained domains such as sport, law enforcement, medicine and the military. Performance is evaluated under controlled conditions in the laboratory and in-situ and process-tracing measures such as eye movement recording and think-aloud protocols are used in conjunction with various experimental manipulations (e.g., film occlusion and point-light displays) to identify skilled-based differences. Moreover, neuroscience methods such as fMRI and TMS are employed to identify the neural correlates of anticipation and decision-making.

The group is interested in exploring how experts discriminate between ‘genuine’ and ‘deceptive’ movements and in identifying how anticipation and decision-making are influenced by stressors such as anxiety and physical workload/fatigue leading to the reinvestment of cognitive effort on the task. Simulation and video-based training programmes that facilitate more rapid development of the key perceptual-cognitive skills that underpin anticipation and decision-making are developed. Current projects in this area are funded by the Australian Research Council, English Institute of Sport and the Lawn Tennis Association.  

Another research area focuses on the mechanisms underpinning superior performance in visual aiming tasks such as archery, shooting and arthroscopic surgery. A multitude of measures are employed to identify how experts perform better on such tasks than less expert counterparts with the overall aim to develop training programmes to improve performance on such tasks. The group is currently involved in a 3-year project in this area funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council involving collaborators at the University of Oxford and University of Birmingham.

A final research focus within the group identifies the conditions that promote skill learning. The developmental history profiles of elite athletes and how environmental influences such as the place and date of birth influence the chances of achieving excellence in sport have been identified. A broad range of research has been published focusing on identifying the characteristics of effective practice and instruction. Our interests focus on diverse topic areas in the learning sciences including: observational learning; the effectiveness of different types of instruction (e.g., explicit vs. implicit); practice scheduling; and feedback provision. Findings emanating from this body of work have implications for those involved in promoting skill learning and effective practice in a broad range of contexts such as physical therapy, physical education, coaching and human factors. 

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