ABSTRACT
Understanding the relationship between key informational constraints, provided by the visual, auditory and proprioceptive perceptual sytems, and human goal-directed behaviour remains a major goal of researchers working from an ecological perspective on perception and action. Many of the other chapters in this book show that the majority of previous research on perception–action couplings during ball catching has tended to focus on the role of visual information as a constraint on co-ordination (e.g. see Bennett, Davids and Woodcock, 1999; Savelsbergh, Whiting and Bootsma, 1991; Smyth and Mariott, 1982). However, Keele and Summers (1976) suggested many years ago that the auditory perceptual system may actually be superior to the visual system in supporting the temporal patterning of movements. This may be the case particularly in ball games where the time constraints for performing hitting or striking actions dictate the need to initiate movement prior to, or at least by the initiation of ball flight (Land and McLeod, 2000; Williams, Davids and Williams, 1999).
