Wax On, Wax Off! Habits, Sport Skills, and Motor Intentionality
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Wax On, Wax Off! Habits, Sport Skills, and Motor Intentionality Massimiliano Lorenzo Cappuccio1,2 · Katsunori Miyahara3 · Jesús Ilundáin‑Agurruza4
© Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract What role does habit formation play in the development of sport skills? We argue that motor habits are both necessary for and constitutive of sensorimotor skill as they support an automatic, yet inherently intelligent and flexible, form of action control. Intellectualists about skills generally assume that what makes action intelligent and flexible is its intentionality, and that intentionality must be necessarily cognitive in nature to allow for both deliberation and explicit goal-representation. Against Intellectualism we argue that the habitual behaviours that compose skilful action are accompanied by their specific, non-cognitive form of intentionality: this is motor intentionality, which is purposive and adaptive while involving no explicit deliberation or goal representation. Our account of habit based on Motor Intentionality explains why the formation of motor habits can sometimes act as the sole basis of skilful acquisition: Motor Intentionality is inherently purposeful because it is an embodied source of sensorimotor anticipation, pre-reflective motivation, and pragmatic know-how. Skill development through exercise always builds on a motor intentional component even when it is guided by Deliberate Practice to the point that, pace Intellectualism, Deliberate Practice is disclosed, not constrained, by habit formation. As suggested by the fact that repetitive exercises can play a major role in the development of flexible and intelligent sport skills, automatism is not a drawback for strategic control and improvisation but rather their pragmatic foundation. Keywords Habit formation · Sport skill acquisition · Motor intentionality · Intellectualism · Sensorimotor action · Goal representation · Deliberate practice · Embodied cognition
1 Introduction Most of us remember the iconic (yet fictional) depiction of martial arts training offered by the Karate Kid movie (1984). To make him automatize the blocking moves instinctively produced by karatekas for stopping punches and kicks, karate master Miyagi-sensei assigns an exercise involving an endless, apparently mindless repetition of “waxing on
* Massimiliano Lorenzo Cappuccio [email protected] 1
School of Engineering and Information Technology, University of New South Wales Canberra, Canberra, Australia
2
United Arab Emirates University, AI & Robotics Lab, Al Ain, UAE
3
Center for Human Nature, Artificial Intelligence, and Neuroscience (CHAIN), Hokkaido University, Hokkaido, Japan
4
Department of Philosophy, Linfield University, McMinnville, OR, USA
and off” circular movements to his trainee, Daniel-san, who is unaware of this task’s real purpose. Expert martial artists debate whether Miyagi’s training routine is a plausible method to learn karate’s blocking moves: such an exercise seems to favour selective muscular reinforcement, but can repetitive movem
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