Memory, Language, Emotion

For the last four blogs, we have presented the most important psychological concepts related to the educational growth of our players; Perception, Attention, Learning, and Motivation. They are simply more essential than the others in our teaching and coaching.

For this blog, we will deal with three of the remaining concepts; Memory, Language, and Emotion and will complete this segment with Thinking next week.

As we have stated, there is interaction among all eight of the concepts. However, in many descriptions of all three of these concepts you will find Memory and Language discussed together and Emotion paired with Memory as Emotional Memory.

We will not try to separate or isolate these concepts but simply let them illustrate the meanings and relationships.

Memory Learning and memory are closely related concepts. Learning is the acquisition of skill or knowledge, while memory is the expression of what you’ve acquired. Encyclopedia of Psychology

Memory refers to the psychological processes of acquiring, storing, retaining, and later retrieving information. Human memory involves the ability to both preserve and recover information.

There are three main types of memory; sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. Sensory memory is very brief, short-term memory is longer, and long-term memory is stored memory.

Sensory Memory Sensory memory is the earliest stage of memory. During this stage, we store sensory information from the environment for a very brief period of time. This can be a matter of seconds for both visual and auditory information.

We pay attention only to certain aspects of sensory memory. Attending to sensory memory allows some of this information to pass into the next stage: short-term memory.

Short-Term Memory Short-term memory, also known as active memory, is the information we are currently aware of or thinking about.

The term "short-term memory" is interchangeably with "working memory," and includes the processes that we use to store, organize, and manipulate information for short periods of time.

Long-Term Memory Long-term memory refers to our storage of information; memory banks. We can recall this information into the working memory when we need it. When used often it becomes more available and less apt to be forgotten. Also if it has been more carefully stored it may be more available.

We coaches have to deal with the joys and sadnesses of our players in accordance with our beliefs about who we are and what we are to do.

In our May 4th 2022 blog - Begin with Beliefs, we presented the philosophy that we have developed over many years of teaching and coaching.

Excerpts: “I am committed to assisting each player in growing as a learner, as a player, and as a unique person.”

“Mutual respect is always appropriate and essential. I must present the model for this by having respect for each of my players and for myself.

Coaching Applications - Memory For each of the three concepts you are going to demonstrate usage of these activities by being the coach of a youth basketball team. You will be teaching them a variety of passes; including air passes, bounce passes, and chest passes.

It’s most important to attach meaning and relationships to the content; attaching the concrete, personal usage and name to the activity until it’s part of their working memory. In teaching, we call it retrieval and reinforcement. Here’s how it goes:

Coach: We have learned a few things during the last few sessions, including dribbling and some shooting. That was really a lot of fun wasn’t it? We will do some more dribbling and shooting later today; but we are going to learn about passing the ball beginning today.

So you’re going to learn about passing the ball for the next four weeks. There are 15 of you here and we three coaches will join you doing this. Line up on the midcourt line now. Okay, I'm going to stand on this end of the line - Coach Bray will stand on the other end - and Coach Bowdon will find a place in the middle of the line.

Now, we will count off by twos. That means that I will say, “One” - the person next to me will say “Two” - the next will say “One” - next will say “Two” - and so on. Ready, “One”. . .

Good - Now all the Ones take five steps toward the basket and turn around facing the Twos. Twos, there’s a rack of basketballs behind you - go get one and come back to where you were.

Remember what we did to get lined up because we are going to do that almost every practice.

The first pass you’re going to learn is the two-hand air pass. Coach Bray and Coach Bowden are going to set up between our rows and demonstrate that pass. Check where they’re holding the ball, check how they hold the ball, and watch how they toss the ball.

Twos, toss the ball and Ones toss it back. - Do it again.

Now, all together - What’s the name of this pass? Well, I heard a couple of voices. It’s the two-handed air pass. All right; all together.What’s the name of this pass? The two-handed air pass.

Now, the coaches will demonstrate this pass again and as they toss the ball they are going to say, “The two-handed air pass.”

Now it’s your turn - toss the balls to your partners saying, “the two-handed air pass.” and they will toss it back saying the same thing. Do that again – And one more time.

Then you will have them do the same thing with a right-handed air pass and then again with the left-handed air pass. Then you can go on to other activities.

Just before they leave: Coach: All together now -what was the name of the first pass you learned today?

Okay, it was the two-handed air pass.

Let’s try it again - all together now -what was the name of the first pass you learned today?

The two-handed air pass.

Then have them do the same with the other two passes.

Activity - done over and name attached to action.

Language

Language cannot exist without memory, in all its forms. Using strategies to boost memory can be helpful for recall and retention.

Language input becomes intake or part of our short term memory. This is consciously attended to and learned by us. When structures and vocabulary become part of long-term memory, it is considered subconscious and acquired by the learner.

Steven Krashen describes this learned language as a monitor that allows us to accurately acquire the long-term memory of grammar and vocabulary. This learned, intake/short-term memory language is useful in writing as well because the writer has the time to reflect and monitor the output. When communicating interpersonally in real time the output is often less accurate with novice and intermediate students because the more accurate and native-like language has not yet made its way to the long-term memory.

So, how can we help our players acquire language so that it becomes part of their long-term memory? This is not complicated and involved, but it does take persistence and consistency on our part. It comes down to providing as much comprehensible input as possible to our players, by their listening, reading, and doing. The more exposure they have to input that is comprehensible to them the more likely the language will make its way to long-term memory.

Learning multiple, related skills is also very helpful; they reinforce each other and extend meaning. We will begin by we use clear, simple words and thoughts.

Coaching Applications - Language

The next week: Coach: Today we’re going to learn some more about the different kinds of passes we make. Last week we learned about some of the different kinds of passes we make. All together now. What was the name of the first kind of pass we learned last week? Players: The two-handed air pass.

Coach does the same thing with the right and left-handed air passes

Coach: Line up the way you were yesterday. Coach: Today we’re going to learn the bounce pass. All right; all together now, What pass are we going to learn today? Players: The bounce pass.

The coaches go through the same routine with the players doing the two-handed version of the bounce pass, the right-handed version, and the left-handed version.

The learning process is conducted exactly the same all the way to the farewell time.

“This is the bounce pass. Demonstrate.

“Pair off and let’s do the bounce pass a couple of times together.”

Have your players use the term: “Okay, what are we practicing?” - All say, “The bounce pass.”

Repeat the farewell message using “The bounce pass.”

Emotions

Emotions are conscious mental reactions (such as joy, anger or fear) subjectively experienced as strong feelings usually directed toward a specific object and typically accompanied by physiological and behavioral changes in the body.

American Psychological Association

The more we study and learn about Emotions, the more we’re concerned about what we’re looking at. Let’s take another look at it anyway. Here are some comments you can find by typing “Emotions” in your computer search file:

“Emotions are mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. There is no scientific consensus on a definition.”

“Emotions are intertwined with mood, temperament, personality, disposition, or creativity.”

“Research on emotion has increased over the past two decades, with many fields contributing, including psychology, medicine, history, sociology of emotions, and computer science. The numerous attempts to explain the origin, function, and other aspects of emotions have fostered intense research on this topic. Theorizing about the evolutionary origin and possible purpose of emotion dates back to Charles Darwin.”

“Current areas of research include the neuroscience of emotion, using tools like PET and fMRI scans to study the affective picture processes in the brain.”

“Emotions are complex, involving multiple different components, such as subjective experience, cognitive processes, expressive behavior, psychophysiological changes, and instrumental behavior.”

“The different components of emotion are categorized somewhat differently depending on the academic discipline. In psychology and philosophy, emotion typically includes a subjective, conscious experience characterized primarily by psychophysiological expressions, biological reactions, and mental states. A similar multi-componential description of emotion is found in sociology.”

All of the above are correct perceptions of beliefs about Emotions.

The Coaches’ Dealing with their Players’ (and their own) Emotions As coaches, what are our relevant beliefs and the actions to be taken relative to the emotions and feelings of our young players?

Coaching Applications - Emotion

The next week:

Coach: Last week we learned about the different kinds of passes we make. All together now. What was the name of the first kind of pass we learned last week? Players: The bounce pass.

Coach does the same thing with the right and left-handed air passes.

Coach: Line up the way you were yesterday.

Coach: Today we’re going to learn the two-handed chest pass. All right; all together now, What pass are we going to learn today?

Players: The two-handed chest pass.

The teaching/learning process is repeated to the farewell with the two-handed chest pass version.

Here are two asides on what may happen during these sessions.

Player, holding the ball in his two hands and shaking his head: Coach, Everybody else is doing it okay but I can’t do that two-handed chest pass and I've been trying hard. The ball just falls to the ground.

Coach: Okay, Donald. Let me see how you’re trying to do it.

Donald: There - it just falls down.

Coach: That’s okay. You’re just holding the ball on the sides. Let’s get your hands back almost behind the ball - thumbs almost together. There - Okay - Now watch how I push my ball and turn my hands. (Demonstrates). Now try it.

Donald: Wow! I did it.

Player Nora that evening:

Dad: Well, Nora, how did practice go today?

Nora (excited): We learned more about our different kinds of passes and Coach asked me to tell the team what the pass with the long name is called. I said that’s the two-handed chest pass.

Dad: We didn’t have passes on my cross-country team - we just ran.

Mom: I learned that pass when I played high school basketball. Show your dad how you do it, Nora.

Nora: All right - I’ll get the ball and we’ll all play “Catch”.