The generalized matching law in elite sport competition: football play calling as operant choice.

Full Abstract

A mathematical model of operant choice, the generalized matching law was used to analyze play-calling data from the 2004 National Football League season. In all analyses, the relative ratio of passing to rushing plays was examined as a function of the relative ratio of reinforcement, defined as yards gained, from passing versus rushing. Different analyses focused on season-aggregate data for the league as a whole, game-by-game data for the league as a whole, and game-by-game data for individual teams. In all analyses except those for a few individual teams, the generalized matching law accounted for a majority of variance in play calling. The typical play-calling pattern reflected undermatching (suggesting imperfect sensitivity of play calling to yardage-gained reinforcers) and a bias for calling rushing plays. Bias was found to be a function of both the relative risk of turnovers and the relative variability in yards gained associated with passing versus rushing plays. The external validity of the matching analyses was supported by significant correlations between parameters of the generalized matching law and team success on offense and season winning percentage. These results illustrate the broad applicability of the generalized matching law to problems outside of the laboratory.

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Author information

Author/s: Reed, Derek D (DD); Critchfield, Thomas S (TS); Martens, Brian K (BK);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244, USA.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Journal of applied behavior analysis (J Appl Behav Anal), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-; vol 39 (issue 3) : pp 281-97

Dates: Created 2006/10/05; Completed 2006/12/28; Revised 2008/11/20;

PMID: 17020210, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Humans
Psychology - methods
Reinforcement (Psychology)
Sports

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