Introduction Dropout, a premature end of a sporting career, is considered a major problem for the elite sports system. This paper examines factors that contribute to elite athletes’ considerations regarding dropout. Drawing on key theorizing from the sociology of work and organizations, we conceptualize dropout as the result of a reflexive process triggered by a perceived mismatch between effort and reward. Methods Empirically...

Embodied mental rotation is the influence of the body on mental rotation ability. Sports expertise enhances embodied mental rotation ability. However, sport-skill-dependent effects remain unclear. Previous studies refer to the influence of body positions on mental rotation ability. Yet, in sports, the investigation of the effect of simultaneous body and mental rotation movements is essential. Athletes need to constantly mental...

The visual system is said to be especially sensitive towards spatial but lesser so towards temporal information. To test this, in two experiments, we systematically reduced the acuity and contrast of a visual stimulus and examined the impact on spatial and temporal precision (and accuracy) in a manual interception task. In Experiment 1, we blurred a virtual, to-be-intercepted moving circle (ball). Participants were asked to in...

The study examined the impact of visual predictability on dual-task performance in driving and tracking tasks. Participants ( N = 27) performed a simulated driving task and a pursuit tracking task. In either task, visual predictability was manipulated by systematically varying the amount of advance visual information: in the driving task, participants drove at night with low beam, at night with high beam, or in daylight; in th...