Issue 177

New research suggests that your jab finding your opponent’s chin may come down to having the right state of mind. Jessi Witt, a psychological scientist at Purdue University, and two colleagues carried out an experiment to discover how perception relates to sports performance and how it could be used to improve success.

The experiment involved setting up a golf hole with projectors surrounding it, first projecting smaller holes around the real hole to make it look bigger, then projecting larger holes to give the opposite effect.

The study’s 36 students took 10 shots each at both setups but had a successful putting rate 10% higher when the hole looked bigger.

So, if athletes can trick themselves into perceiving a target as being bigger than it actually is, they can significantly increase their chances of hitting it. Think about that next time you take aim at your opponent’s head inside the cage.