ABSTRACT
For Michaels and Beek (1995), the core problem for the ecological group is ‘the coordination of activity with respect to perceptual information’ (p. 259). In Chapter 6 the basis of perception-action coupling was discussed from the Gibsonian perspective of direct perception. Amongst other things, the role of the optic array in guiding the coordination of an athlete's movements with respect to task goals was emphasised. However, we concluded that it is currently not clear how optic variables specify the changes necessary to the action system during goal-directed behaviour. For instance, during interceptive timing, tau merely specifies the temporal initiation point for successful completion of an action. What is missing is the specificational link between optical information and the dynamics of the movement system.
