Winning Eleven By: David H. Whatton

The Penalty Shot Real Madrid’s David Beckham has been given an opportunity to make a game winning penalty shot in the final seconds a game. Up to this point the game has been at a stalemate, what must be going through his head? All those minute details that Beckham usually takes for granted must be rushing through his head. The dimensions of the soccer goal and soccer ball The direction of the wind The talent of the goalie The length of grass The distance the shot is from the goal He must be processing those details into information about: The power needed to kick the ball Adjustment for direction of wind The desired contact point on the ball The goalies weak side David starts his routine Shakes out his limbs Intimidates the goalie with a stare He backs up, begins his kick, follows through, and its…

Look at goalie and goal Select target and plan trajectory Shake out body to relief tension Run forward and retract leg Leg swings forward and follows through Stare in awe as ball arcs into the net * note: autonomic nervous system or stress level state at the beginning of this task may affect the timing of individual parts Subtask Timeline – David Beckham’s Penalty Kick

David Beckham’s Brain Region Diagram for Kicking a Penalty Shot Look at goalie and goal (occipital cortex, what and where pathways, superior colliculus, parietal association cortex [for representing spatial layout]) Select target and plan trajectory (premotor cortex [for planning movement], frontal cortex, visual cortex [for imagining kick]; hippocampus [for previous memory of penalty shots]) Shake out body to relief tension (motor cortex; somatosensory cortex [feedback]) Run forward and retract leg (motor cortex; somatosensory cortex [feedback]) Leg swings forward and follows through (motor cortex; somatosensory cortex [feedback]) Stare in awe as ball arcs into net (occipital cortex, what and where pathways, superior colliculus, parietal association cortex [for representing spatial layout])

Research Question Does a long fixation on target area produce a more accurate kick than a short fixation?

Hypothesis When David Beckham fixates on intended target for a greater period of time he will place the ball there with greater frequency and accuracy.

Experiment Design In this experiment there will be two sets of trials –The first set of trials will test how accurate a penalty kick is when a subject is only given a short amount of time to fixate the target. –The second set of trials will test how accurate a penalty kick is when a subject is given an infinite amount of time to fixate the target.

Experiment Design…continued… First Set of Trials –Subject is given three seconds to fixate on target before kick –A total of ten penalty shots will be taken –The frequency of striking the target will be recorded as well as how close to the center of the target the ball strikes Second Set of Trials –Subject is given an infinite amount of time to fixate on target before kick –A total of ten penalty shots will be taken –The frequency of striking the target will be recorded as well as how close to the center of the target the ball strikes Data –The results from the two trials will be compiled and compared to search for a significant result between the two fixation times

Possible Results Result 1 – It is possible that a long fixation time is not needed to make an accurate shot, subsequently those participants in trial 2 would show no better accuracy or frequency than those in trial 1 Result 2 – It is also possible that a short fixation produces poor shots and that the longer fixation time of trial 2 resulted in much greater accuracy and frequency Result 3 – Furthermore the results could also show that a short fixation time as in Trial 1 was the more accurate and frequent set Further Investigation –Result 1: It would be useful to test the same hypothesis at differing distances from the desired target –Result 2: Research into the areas of the brain that are active during the short fixation and long fixation trials would hopefully show what further processing occurs to produce the improved accuracy and frequency of the long fixation –Result 3: This result could lead the researcher to ask the question of whether a person’s reflexes are superior to a planned action