Sports as a context for understanding the development of rule usage and mistake making: [Bloopers, Errors and Turnovers]

We begin by asking why even experienced athletes at the highest level of sports competition make bad decisions in crucial moments. In considering the clichéd notion of the “human element,” we note that the attainment of an ability does not necessarily entail perfect, or even optimal, performance. In dynamic, complex, stressful, and fatiguing environments that involve a myriad of continual split-second reactions to the decisions and actions of opponents, even the most efficient executive functions can be taxed. Sports present a unique opportunity to further study this situational regression of cognitive function and attempt to optimize decision making, executive functions, and performance in real-world environments with day-to-day challenges faced by everyone but particularly by children whose development is in most flux.