Posture-related affordances guide attacks in basketball

ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to investigate the decision made by the attacker to drive to the left or right of the defender.MethodParticipants were 32 novice and intermediate basketball players who were assigned the role of attacker or defender in a one-on-one subphase. We manipulated the defender’s posture and measured both the postures of defenders and attackers and the ensuing decision on drive direction.ResultsAs hypothesized, the posture of defenders guided the decision behavior of the attacker. Both novice and intermediate attackers made the same affordance-based decision by driving to the side of the defender’s most advanced foot, but only when the distance between attacker and defender was small. Moreover, novice attackers conveyed postural information regarding their upcoming drive direction while intermediate attackers were better able to conceal this information.ConclusionsThese results lend further support to the notion of information-based control of interpersonal actions in sport contexts.

► Posture of defenders guided the decisional behavior of attackers.
► Attackers made affordance-based decisions according to defender’s most advanced foot.
► Posture-related information for drive direction was observed at novice and intermediate levels.
► Novice attackers conceded postural information regarding upcoming drive direction.
► Intermediate attackers concealed postural information regarding upcoming drive direction.