Extending Research on Deception in Sport – Combining Perception and Kinematic Approaches

The spatio-temporal demands of many high performance sport contexts require a strategic interplay between anticipation from early kinematic cues and the appropriate movement strategy. Despite the importance of the interaction between observer and deceiver in these contexts, this dyad is usually considered separately (i.e., from perceptual-cognitive or kinematic perspectives). The present approach proposes a consolidation of perceptual-cognitive and kinematic perspectives into a dyad of deception that focuses on the interplay between opposing actors within antagonistic contexts. A framework is proposed for analyzing movement deception within this dyad. Applying a functional approach, the deceptive act is positioned as a means of optimally solving an antagonistic performance task with high spatio-temporal demands. The framework involves three elements: first, the context of the movement deception is evaluated relative to the constraints imposed by the athlete, object, and deceptive content. Together, these constraints generate a range of potential kinematic options for movement deception. Second, movement deception is determined by the spatio-temporal constraints of the original context. More simply, misleading information is only useful if it mimics elements of the genuine movement. Third, the framework emphasizes targeting the spatio-temporal interplay as well as differentiating between active and co(ntra)-active movement deception. Our goal with this framework is to supplement movement deception research by providing a conceptional context that can be applied across sports.