I have a hypothesis.... Guiltless players (or even just semi-experienced tiltless players) don't get into many car accidents due to their quick foot reaction to press the brake and save their ass. I have experienced this a good handful of times. I am looking out the window at some bird or something and I look back at the road and I have very little time to slam on the brakes, but I manage it just fine, whereas, I feel that other people (non-players) can easily wreck their cars in my situation. I've saved my ass so many times due to quick foot reflex (I am a good and safe driver, but I do get distracted at times).
I thought it might be interesting to investigate and find out if my hypothesis is correct.
So let me hear your take on things... Do you agree with me?
Guiltless Players In Car Accidents?
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F[uns]tylin' Eclectic
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I personally disagree. I don't think playing footbag really improves someone's basic reflexes, and depressing the brake pedal doesn't exactly take the fine motor skills one develops from playing footbag.
If you hypothesized that kids who played lots of first person shooter video games were better drivers you might have a case. That is an activity that exercises quick reflexes and the extensive use of one's peripheral vision. Not really sure if I want to hear your idea for empirically testing your hypothesis...
If you hypothesized that kids who played lots of first person shooter video games were better drivers you might have a case. That is an activity that exercises quick reflexes and the extensive use of one's peripheral vision. Not really sure if I want to hear your idea for empirically testing your hypothesis...
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Webslinger
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jimmyjames
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Footbag definitely has a positive effect on your nervous system and motor control. Any physical activity that requires quick motion will benefit the nervous system.
It's not a reflex per se in the sense of an automatic gamma motor neuron controlled reflex, but a conscious reaction controlled by the brain and nervous system that allows quick movements to be made after identifying a stimulus, choosing the appropriate reaction to that stimulus, and executing that reaction.
Training your body and nervous system to move fast does physically improve nervous system function and can help with the process of information processing and physical execution of the reaction.
You're correct about the hand eye coordination of video games though as driving also involves control of the hands; I would suggest that a combination of quick motor control training that involves both the hands and feet would improve reaction time for any activities.
TLDR version: Footbag helps improve your brain and nervous system function so it likely adds to increased reaction time while driving.
It's not a reflex per se in the sense of an automatic gamma motor neuron controlled reflex, but a conscious reaction controlled by the brain and nervous system that allows quick movements to be made after identifying a stimulus, choosing the appropriate reaction to that stimulus, and executing that reaction.
Training your body and nervous system to move fast does physically improve nervous system function and can help with the process of information processing and physical execution of the reaction.
You're correct about the hand eye coordination of video games though as driving also involves control of the hands; I would suggest that a combination of quick motor control training that involves both the hands and feet would improve reaction time for any activities.
TLDR version: Footbag helps improve your brain and nervous system function so it likely adds to increased reaction time while driving.
james gilbert
getting less distracted from birds and paying attention to the road is what makes you a better or worse driver.... I dont think it specifically helps the driving thing.....
^ basically I do agree that my over reaction time is super heightened by playing footbag....so there are skills that good drivers need that I have , but i also have gotten more tickets, and more wrecks than my wife who does not play footbag. I wish I could agree , but i am unfortunately proof of the other way..
I do think its cool though how fast I react to some things.... Basically when you first start playing footbag you try to catch everything with your feet...footbags, cups, forks, knives........ then after playing for a while , your reaction gets even quicker......then ,,,,when you drop a knife.....as its falling....you react by sticking your foot out and then think "no , I shouldnt do this because catching a falling knife barefoot might not be the best idea" then you actually pull your foot back away from it..... I think its funny how all of this happens in the nano second that it takes for the knife to fall three feet .
I do feel many advantages though...
I dont fall or hurt myself as much as others would in the same circumstances.....ie....if I lose my balance ,,,,im more inclined to stay calm and go with it as oppoesed to fighting the balance and injurying myself worse. I do see that my reflexes are better than many people around me ....... I use to play catcher in baseball while I was growing up and ......after not throwing the ball for years...the other day I threw the baseball with this kid that threw kind of hard and ...it still took me a while to get my reaction time fast enough to feel comfortable.....beacause if you you blink when someone throws an 80 mph pitch at you ...you get hit...
Nick ....I get your point but no ......you need to stop bird watching and daydreaming while you drive ..... OH SNAP
^ basically I do agree that my over reaction time is super heightened by playing footbag....so there are skills that good drivers need that I have , but i also have gotten more tickets, and more wrecks than my wife who does not play footbag. I wish I could agree , but i am unfortunately proof of the other way..
I do think its cool though how fast I react to some things.... Basically when you first start playing footbag you try to catch everything with your feet...footbags, cups, forks, knives........ then after playing for a while , your reaction gets even quicker......then ,,,,when you drop a knife.....as its falling....you react by sticking your foot out and then think "no , I shouldnt do this because catching a falling knife barefoot might not be the best idea" then you actually pull your foot back away from it..... I think its funny how all of this happens in the nano second that it takes for the knife to fall three feet .
I do feel many advantages though...
I dont fall or hurt myself as much as others would in the same circumstances.....ie....if I lose my balance ,,,,im more inclined to stay calm and go with it as oppoesed to fighting the balance and injurying myself worse. I do see that my reflexes are better than many people around me ....... I use to play catcher in baseball while I was growing up and ......after not throwing the ball for years...the other day I threw the baseball with this kid that threw kind of hard and ...it still took me a while to get my reaction time fast enough to feel comfortable.....beacause if you you blink when someone throws an 80 mph pitch at you ...you get hit...
Nick ....I get your point but no ......you need to stop bird watching and daydreaming while you drive ..... OH SNAP
SHRED HARD!
This topic is a bit ironic, considering what just happened to me. I got T-boned by a huge bus yesterday. There was no reaction time. It was like... "SeeTheBusBOOM!GetHitByTheBus." I only *wish* footbag skills could have helped me there.
However, there are numerous times when I've just dropped things like bowls, plates, eggs, cameras, phones and other breakable items, and instinctively caught them with my feet before they hit the ground. Not quite as dramatic or helpful as avoiding a car wreck, but the skills do have benefits elsewhere in life.
However, there are numerous times when I've just dropped things like bowls, plates, eggs, cameras, phones and other breakable items, and instinctively caught them with my feet before they hit the ground. Not quite as dramatic or helpful as avoiding a car wreck, but the skills do have benefits elsewhere in life.
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h0ag3yb3atZ
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F[uns]tylin' Eclectic
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Re:
There's research supporting this.rjadamson wrote:If you hypothesized that kids who played lots of first person shooter video games were better drivers you might have a case. That is an activity that exercises quick reflexes and the extensive use of one's peripheral vision.
Re: Guiltless Players In Car Accidents?
The OP hypothesis seems unlikely and hard to measure. I imagine the reason why "guiltless players don't get into many car accidents" is because car accidents are uncommon and there aren't many guiltless players. To clarify what I mean by saying that car accidents are uncommon - obviously some occur in most places in the world every day, but compared with the number of trips taken in a car, the number of crashes is very low. Ie. your probability of crashing on a single car trip is very low. The reason why there are a noticeable number of car crashes is because there are so many people driving. So because the probability of crash per drive is so low, and because there are very few footbaggers, you'd expect only a few to be involved in crashes (especially as drivers). With the global distribution of footbaggers, measuring might be difficult. You could, however, collect crash statistics for a small number of guiltless players from a particular area and then compare them to regional statistics and see whether there is a significant difference or not. The problem is that in the US, for example, the fatality rate (I can't find crash data) is 1.4 deaths per 100 million miles. If we were to say that 1 in 10,000 crashes have a fatality, you'd still need to drive 10,000 miles to expect one crash, which is the equivalent of driving about half way around the Earth - so with a relatively small group, the range of what is considered statistically insignificant is going to be very high, the expected number of crashes very low, and it's probably impossible to tell whether the crash rate is lower than expected.