IB Sports, exercise and health science C.2.1.2 the Psychological Refractory Period and Its Impact on Reaction Time Key Definitions

Adaptation refers to the continual adjustment and reorganization of an athlete’s physical components such as muscles and limbs, to effectively respond to changing constraints during sports competition.

Affordances are action opportunities provided by the sporting environment, representing interactions between athletes and their surroundings. Athletes recognize affordances by understanding how they can respond effectively to specific performance conditions. These opportunities invite athletes to act based on their past experiences, learned skills, and individual motivations.

A learning curve refers to a graphical representation illustrating how a person's skill or performance improves over time through practice or experience.

It shows the rate and pattern of progress as someone learns a new skill, highlighting periods of rapid improvement, slower progression, or plateaus.

Motor programmes are sets of muscle commands allowing movements to be executed automatically, without relying on feedback.

Perception-action coupling describes the direct link between sensory information and movement execution. Instead of separate perception and action phases, both occur simultaneously.

Time from stimulus introduction to action completion. Components of Response Time include Reaction Time: Time from stimulus onset to the beginning of movement and Movement Time: Time taken to complete the motor action.