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Integrating seeing-for-movement and seeing-for-thought in elite action

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 June 2026

David L. Mann Open the ORCID record for David L. Mann [Opens in a new window]  and
Wayne Wu
David L. Mann*
Affiliation:
Department of Human Movement Sciences, Amsterdam Movement Sciences and Institute Brain and Behaviour Amsterdam (iBBA), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands d.mann@vu.nl
Wayne Wu
Affiliation:
Department of History and Philosophy of Science and Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA waynnewu@pitt.edu
*
*Corresponding author.
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Abstract

Elite athletes perform visually guided actions under severe temporal constraints. Reconsidering conscious versus unconscious vision, we present evidence from elite athletes that challenges the conceptualization of unconscious action guidance and propose instead distinguishing seeing-for-movement and seeing-for-thought. Elite athletes appear to use both in a coordinated manner when performing visually guided actions.

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Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 49 , 2026 , e183
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2026. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

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