ReviewSports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.)2019
Combat as an Interpersonal Synergy: An Ecological Dynamics Approach to Combat Sports.
Review in Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 75 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- A comparison of perceptual anticipation in combat sports between experts and non-experts: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Pooled it
- Combined effects of low-dose caffeine and warm-up music enhance male athletes' performance in simulated Taekwondo combat: a double-blind, randomized crossover trial.Psychopharmacology · 2025Trial
- Warm-up music and low-dose caffeine enhance the activity profile and psychophysiological responses during simulated combat in female taekwondo athletes.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Wearable Wireless EMG Sensors for Monitoring Post-Error Neuromuscular Responses During a Sport-Specific Inhibitory Control Task.Biosensors · 2026Article
- Comparative Analysis of Visio-Spatial Skills Profiles in Boxing, Karate, and Taekwondo Athletes.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2026Article
- Comparison of traditional and ecological dynamical training approaches in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: effects on Force Development, reactivity, and distress perception.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Becoming a fighter: phenomenological dimensions of personal development in beginner martial arts and combat sports practitioners.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Deceptive actions in combat sports: an antagonistic decision-making perspective from the lens of "Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
- Differences in Anatomical Structures and Resting-State Brain Networks Between Elite Wrestlers and Handball Athletes.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Combat sports and wellbeing: advancing health and inclusion in athletes and practitioners. An opinion paper.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Mental fatigue in Olympic combat sports: the unseen ongoing battle.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Article
- Limb biomechanics in combat sports: insights from wearable sensor technology.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2025Review
- Predicting social experience from dyadic interaction dynamics: the BallGame, a novel paradigm to study social engagement.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Virtual reality boxing: impact of gaze-contingent blur on elite boxers performance and gaze behavior.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2024Article
- (Re)conceptualizing movement behavior in sport as a problem-solving activity.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2023Review
- Synchrony in triadic jumping performance under the constraints of virtual reality.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Maximising Grip on Deception and Disguise: Expert Sports Performance During Competitive Interactions.Sports medicine - open · 2022Article
- Physiological Responses to Combat Sports in Metabolic Diseases: A Systematic Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Review
- Sports Training Strategies and Interactive Control Methods Based on Neural Network Models.Computational intelligence and neuroscience · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In combat sports, athletes continuously co-adapt their behavior to that of the opponent. We consider this interactive aspect of combat to be at the heart of skilled performance, yet combat sports research often neglects or limits interaction between combatants. To promote a more interactive approach, the aim of this paper is to understand combat sports from the combined perspective of ecological psychology and dynamic systems. Accordingly, combat athletes are driven by perception of affordances to attack and defend. Two combatants in a fight self-organize into one interpersonal synergy, where the perceptions and actions of both athletes are coupled. To be successful in combat, performers need to manipulate and take advantage of the (in)stability of the system. Skilled performance in combat sports therefore requires brinkmanship: combatants need to be aware of their action boundaries and purposefully act in meta-stable regions on the limits of their capabilities. We review the experimental literature to provide initial support for a synergetic approach to combat sports. Expert combatants seem able to accurately perceive action boundaries for themselves and their opponent. Local-level behavior of individual combatants has been found to lead to spatiotemporal synchronization at the global level of a fight. Yet, a formal understanding of combat as a dynamic system starting with the identification of order and control parameters is still lacking. We conclude that the ecological dynamics perspective offers a promising approach to further our understanding of skilled performance in combat sports, as well as to assist coaches and athletes to promote optimal training and learning.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.