Documenting and analyzing pre-reflective self-consciousness underlying ongoing performance optimization in elite athletes. The theoretical and methodological approach of the course-of-experience framework

Abstract

Traditional theories of motor learning emphasize the automaticity of skillful actions. However, recent research has questioned this principle of automaticity by emphasizing the role of pre-reflective self-consciousness accompanying athletes’ unfolding activity. Yet empirical documentation and analysis of athletes’ pre-reflective self-consciousness are associated with epistemological discussion and methodological challenges. In the present paper, we present the course-of-experience framework as a means of studying elite athletes’ pre-reflective self-consciousness in the unfolding activity of performance optimization. We carried out a synthetic presentation of the ontological and epistemological foundation of the course-of-experience framework, rooted in an enactive approach of human cognition. Then we illustrated the methodology associated with this framework by an in-depth analysis of two elite windsurfing riders’ courses of experience. The analysis of global and local characteristics of the riders’ course of experience reveal (a) the meaningful activities accompanying the experience of ongoing performance optimization; (b) the multidimensionality of attentional foci and the normativity of performance self-assessment; and (c) a micro-scale phenomenological description of continuous improvement. These results highlight the fruitfulness of the course-of-experience framework to describe the experience of being absorbed in an activity of sport performance optimization by documenting and analyzing athletes’ pre-reflective self-consciousness.

Exploring the Interplay Between Humans and Sports Equipment in the Quest for Performance

“…Furthermore, the studies of Terrien et al (2020Terrien et al ( , 2022Terrien et al ( , 2023aTerrien et al ( , 2023b in sailing have shown that the behavior of sports equipment affects the interplay between athletes and their equipment. Indeed, some sports equipment exhibits behaviors that are not directly controlled by the athletes.…”

“…This contrasts with the movements of a backpack, which stop if the runner stops moving, or the movement of a golf club, which directly depends on the forces applied by the golfer. The studies of Terrien et al (2020Terrien et al ( , 20222023a, 2023b were conducted within the course-of-experience framework (Poizat et al, 2022;Terrien et al, 2023;Theureau, 2006) with elite sailors. The aim of this research was primarily to study the interplay between humans, sports equipment, and the environment by analyzing sailors' intentions, expectations, knowledge, perceptions, and actions, in relation to the equipment's movements.…”