Differential effect of incidental and intentional instruction in learning about decision-making conditions when shooting in basketball

Abstract

Discriminative decision rule learning is a core ingredient in many interactive sports. This study presents a laboratory simulation experiment (an adaptation of a Go/No-go task) that focuses on the quantitative analysis of three important environmental determinants of shot selection in basketball: physical opposition, availability of rebound and availability of defensive balance. Our results show that these three criteria are incorporated into decisions at different rates. Moreover, the use of such criteria is differentially sensitive to intentional (vs. incidental) instruction. In practical terms, these results illustrate some of the potential limitations of decision-making training by mere task design, i.e., without the coach’s explicit guidance.