Volume 6 Issue 4 and Volume 7 Issue 1

In the study of play, it has been suggested that hunter-gatherer and egalitarian societies avoid competitive games and forms of dominance in society. The game of N!àì is played by the Ju|’hoan people in Botswana in a way that facilitates competition and contradicts this suggestion. While similar games have been described and studied extensively from qualitative perspectives, we aim to analyze patterns in the game of N!àì from a quantitative and statistical perspective. Specifically, using original data extracted from first-hand video recordings of twenty different matches, we adopt a class of Bradley-Terry pairwise comparison models to analyze players’ latent game-playing abilities. In addition, we demonstrate the use of a Bayesian segmentation model to quantify streakiness. The assessment of the level of streakiness further enables the discussion of whether it is more advantageous to play in a streaky or in a random fashion. The findings question more general assumptions about hunter-gatherer societies and the activities in which they are likely to engage due to the egalitarian nature of their society. Implications for expertise research beyond gesture games are discussed.

As video gaming and competitive eSports have garnered increased empirical attention, a knowledge gap persists concerning the cognitive underpinnings of performance in individual gaming genres. Indeed, just as is true of traditional sports, where different abilities underlie performance in, for instance, tennis versus wrestling, eSports players require distinguishable skills to perform well in any particular genre, and these genre-specific skill sets likely load upon unique cognitive constructs. The present study aimed to assess the relations between high-level expertise in two different eSports and performance on a number of cognitive assessments in an effort to isolate the cognitive processes that most directly support top-level competitive gaming performance in those eSports. Top-level experts of the Fighting and Rhythm game genres outperformed Non-video-game players (NVGPs) on measures of reaction time, paced motor timing, and sustained attention. Fighting Game Experts performed particularly well on a measure of sustained attention, while Rhythm Game Experts performed particularly well at paced motor timing. Interestingly though, the expert groups did not tend to differ dramatically from one another, suggesting either relations between the cognitive capacities and more general gaming expertise (rather than game specific expertise), or that the specific forms of expertise necessary are more shared across these game genres than anticipated. This work provides an initial look at the effects of video game expertise in fighting and rhythm games, as well as offering some explanation for how genre-specific expertise may interact with certain cognitive abilities.

Research suggests that, unlike practitioners of other professions, psychotherapists do not improve their performance with experience. The application of deliberate practice (DP) into psychotherapy training has been suggested as one way to improve psychotherapists’ and psychology students’ performance. This study intends to compare the effect of deliberate practice (DP) training and expositive training as usual (TAU) on the empathic quality of undergraduates’ therapeutic responses to clinical simulation videos. Psychology undergraduates (N = 36) were randomly assigned either to DP or to TAU conditions. They recorded their empathic responses to two videos at three different points in time over the course of three weeks (once before having received any training and twice after the DP or TAU interventions). Blind raters evaluated the empathic quality of the responses using the Measure of Expressed Empathy (Watson, 1999). The results indicate that undergraduate students undergoing DP displayed improvements in their empathic responses from baseline to after the second DP training. In contrast, participants in the TAU condition did not show comparable enhancements.

Coach intuition plays a critical role in the selection of academy players. A coach’s beliefs about a player's current abilities and perceived potential are critical in deciding a player’s future. Therefore, this study attempted to gain insight towards each coach’s experience and beliefs in selecting players, before undertaking a hypothetical selection activity to understand whether coaches act on such knowledge. Twenty-four coaches recruited from 21 unique professional football (soccer) academies (nine Category 1, eight Category 2, and seven Category 3) took part in semi-structured interviews. The findings established that coach beliefs and actions differed, whereby coaches stated a wide range of holistic beliefs towards selection, yet the hypothetical scenario outlined a far narrower selection criteria applied in action. While several beliefs were reinforced, it was also clear that biases were also presented. Maturation-related bias, favoring the more mature players, explained a potential focus on specific physical qualities (speed) and the perceived potential of players. Additionally, a focus on current performance, over wider elements related to perceived future potential, was evident during the selection scenario. Moreover, while subjective input will remain a key contributor to the player selection process, objective assessments and the input of wider multidisciplinary staff should be utilized to help mitigate the above-mentioned issues.