An Ecological Dynamics Perspective on Flow in Sport

This thesis utilises an ecological dynamics perspective to investigate the concept of flow experiences in the domain of sport. The study of flow in sport is motivated by the objective of understanding the nature of sport and the experiences which may motivate individuals to engage in it. To support these aims, the theoretical and empirical contributions of this thesis focus on the fundamental action and perception processes underlying competitive coordination to facilitate new directions for flow research. Chapter One provides a background for the thesis by identifying a common language for analysing the ontological nature of sports and the experiences they are capable of providing. Chapter Two uses the framework developed in Chapter One to query the metatheoretical foundations of the concept of flow and identify difficulties prevalent framings may create for flow research. Beginning from the alternative foundations of the ecological metatheory, Chapter Three develops a theoretical account of flow in sport and generates testable hypotheses about the dynamics of performance behaviour in flow activities. Chapter Four begins the empirical portion of the thesis by testing the hypothesis that performance behaviour in a dyadic 1v1 task would involve nonlinear cross-scale interactivity. The results of multifractal analysis and surrogate analysis identified cross-scale interactions in all trials, supporting the hypothesis of interaction-dominant dynamics. Chapter four introduces the cascade modelling strategy used throughout the thesis while also bringing a measure of anticipatory synchronisation developed in the study of chaotic systems to the behavioural sciences. Chapter Five utilises cascade dynamics to model a self-report measure of flow as a dependent variable, finding that the multifractal properties of both attackers and defenders were significant predictors of flow. Chapter Six extends the cascade modelling strategy to the level of intra- and inter-team coordination through analysis of player movements in a football match. Vector autoregressive modelling of time-variation in local Hurst exponents identified directional influences in the spread multifractal fluctuations within and across teams. Chapter Seven reviews the thesis and summarises its contributions to research. The thesis advances the study of flow in sport through metatheoretical analysis, theoretical development, the introduction of new methods to the field, and empirical findings.