Here are the extracts for two scientific studies on hitting. The first says that virtual environment batting practice was better than classic BP because of the variability that it provides.
The use of virtual environments (VE) for training perceptual-motors skills in sports continues to be a rapidly growing area. However, there is a dearth of research that has examined whether training in sports simulation transfers to the real task. In this study, the transfer of perceptual-motor skills trained in an adaptive baseball batting VE to real baseball performance was investigated. Eighty participants were assigned equally to groups undertaking adaptive hitting training in the VE, extra sessions of batting practice in the VE, extra sessions of real batting practice, and a control condition involving no additional training to the players’ regular practice. Training involved two 45 min sessions per week for 6 weeks. Performance on a batting test in the VE, in an on-field test of batting, and on a pitch recognition test was measured pre- and post-training. League batting statistics in the season following training and the highest level of competition reached in the following 5 years were also analyzed. For the majority of performance measures, the adaptive VE training group showed a significantly greater improvement from pre-post training as compared to the other groups. In addition, players in this group had superior batting statistics in league play and reached higher levels of competition. Training in a VE can be used to improve real, on-field performance especially when designers take advantage of simulation to provide training methods (e.g., adaptive training) that do not simply recreate the real training situation.
The second one used barriers and attentional cues which assisted hitters in increasing their launch angle.
What is the most effective coaching intervention for assisting a skilled athlete in modifying their technique? The present study directly compared 2 types of attentional cueing (internal focus [IF] and external focus [EF]) with a constraints-led approach (CLA) manipulation for teaching experienced batters to increase their launch angle in a baseball batting virtual environment. CLA training involved adding the constraint of a barrier that must be hit over and adjusting barrier distance and height based on performance. Following 6 weeks of training, the CLA group had significantly higher launch angle, higher exit velocity, more fly balls, and more home runs as compared with the other two groups. These variables were also significantly greater for the EF group than the IF group. For both the CLA and EF groups, there was a significant quadratic trend in the bat path angle variability across training blocks, whereas there was no significant change in this variable for the IF group. The CLA is more effective for changing the technique of a skilled athlete than attentional cueing alone because it promotes a greater degree of exploration of the perceptual-motor space. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)
The use of virtual environments (VE) for training perceptual-motors skills in sports continues to be a rapidly growing area. However, there is a dearth of research that has examined whether training in sports simulation transfers to the real task. In this study, the transfer of perceptual-motor skills trained in an adaptive baseball batting VE to real baseball performance was investigated. Eighty participants were assigned equally to groups undertaking adaptive hitting training in the VE, extra sessions of batting practice in the VE, extra sessions of real batting practice, and a control condition involving no additional training to the players’ regular practice. Training involved two 45 min sessions per week for 6 weeks. Performance on a batting test in the VE, in an on-field test of batting, and on a pitch recognition test was measured pre- and post-training. League batting statistics in the season following training and the highest level of competition reached in the following 5 years were also analyzed. For the majority of performance measures, the adaptive VE training group showed a significantly greater improvement from pre-post training as compared to the other groups. In addition, players in this group had superior batting statistics in league play and reached higher levels of competition. Training in a VE can be used to improve real, on-field performance especially when designers take advantage of simulation to provide training methods (e.g., adaptive training) that do not simply recreate the real training situation.
The second one used barriers and attentional cues which assisted hitters in increasing their launch angle.
What is the most effective coaching intervention for assisting a skilled athlete in modifying their technique? The present study directly compared 2 types of attentional cueing (internal focus [IF] and external focus [EF]) with a constraints-led approach (CLA) manipulation for teaching experienced batters to increase their launch angle in a baseball batting virtual environment. CLA training involved adding the constraint of a barrier that must be hit over and adjusting barrier distance and height based on performance. Following 6 weeks of training, the CLA group had significantly higher launch angle, higher exit velocity, more fly balls, and more home runs as compared with the other two groups. These variables were also significantly greater for the EF group than the IF group. For both the CLA and EF groups, there was a significant quadratic trend in the bat path angle variability across training blocks, whereas there was no significant change in this variable for the IF group. The CLA is more effective for changing the technique of a skilled athlete than attentional cueing alone because it promotes a greater degree of exploration of the perceptual-motor space. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)
