The ecological dynamics of cognizant action in sport

The widespread inferential understanding of human action attributes to the brain the power of modelling actions and predicting immediate changes in environmental circumstances. However, an ecological rationale proposes that sport performance is founded on coupled perception and action, avoiding the need for the brain, as a mediator, to be lagging behind immediate corporeal contact with the sport environment. Here, a theory of cognizant action is presented where behaviour is understood in terms of self-organized action, shaped by a performer's complex skills, directed towards perceived affordances. Cognizant action is defined as the conservation of intentionality by coupled perception and action. Being oriented towards action possibilities (affordances), cognizant action self-organizes in every performance environment, and at the same time it is constrained by performers' skills. Accordingly, the study of cognizant action demands representative experimental designs and analysis of eco-physical variables to understand sport performance. Current debates include the role of knowledge, the symmetry between performer and environment, and team cognition. Future research might be directed to test tensegrity as well as ‘strong’ anticipation in individual and team sport tasks.