The matching relation and situation-specific bias modulation in professional football play selection

Application of the matching law to Mixed Martial Arts

In the contemporary behavior-analytic literature, athletic performance (e.g.,choice of shot or movement) across multiple team sports has been found to correspond with predictions of the generalized matching equation. However, the research in this area has focused primarily on team sports. In the current study the Generalized Matching Equation (GME) was applied to Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) performance by examining strike selection as a function of landing significant strikes among fighters from various weight classes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The results suggest that the GME is a good descriptor of strike selection in MMA, an individual sport that is dynamic and fast paced where responding results in immediate feedback from an opponent.

Review of sports performance research with youth, collegiate, and elite athletes

This brief review summarizes translational and intervention research in the area of sports performance. We describe studies with youth, collegiate, and elite athletes; identify recent trends; and propose recommendations for future research.

Switch hitting in baseball: apparent rule-following, not matching

Many studies, including some dealing with shot selection in basketball and play selection in football, demonstrate that the generalized matching equation provides a good description of the allocation of time and effort to alternative responses as a function of the consequences of those alternatives. We examined whether it did so with respect to left- and right-handed at bats (alternative responses) and left- and right-handed total bases earned, runs batted in, and home runs (three consequences) for the outstanding baseball switch-hitters Mickey Mantle, Eddie Murray, and Pete Rose. With all hitters, undermatching, suggesting insensitivity to the consequences of behavior (reinforcement), was evident and there was substantial bias towards left-handed at bats. These players apparently chose handedness based on the rule "bat opposite the pitcher," not on differential consequences obtained in major league games. The present findings are significant in representing a counter-instance of demonstrations of a matching relationship in sports in particular and in human behavior in general and in calling attention to the need for further study of the variables that affect choice.

Translational research in behavior analysis: historical traditions and imperative for the future

"Pure basic" science can become detached from the natural world that it is supposed to explain. "Pure applied" work can become detached from fundamental processes that shape the world it is supposed to improve. Neither demands the intellectual support of a broad scholarly community or the material support of society. Translational research can do better by seeking innovation in theory or practice through the synthesis of basic and applied questions, literatures, and methods. Although translational thinking has always occurred in behavior analysis, progress often has been constrained by a functional separation of basic and applied communities. A review of translational traditions in behavior analysis suggests that innovation is most likely when individuals with basic and applied expertise collaborate. Such innovation may have to accelerate for behavior analysis to be taken seriously as a general-purpose science of behavior. We discuss the need for better coordination between the basic and applied sectors, and argue that such coordination compromises neither while benefiting both.