Flipper
Member
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2011
- Messages
- 1
Although I have never competed in cubing competitions I have competed in many sports both physical and mental and as far as I can see there are three completely different issues being discussed.
1. Listening to music to improve performance.
2. Blocking out noise based distractions to improve performance.
3. Cheating by obtaining help during a solve.
1. Studies have shown that listening to music around 60 bpm, especially baroque such as Vivaldi and Mozart can aid memory retention while studying and that added benefits can be obtained by listening to the same music during recall. This could easily be deemed to be an artificial aid to performance.
Rock music has been shown to be an aid to visual memory even though it has been proven to have a negative effect on recall on paper based learning of information (such as written algorithms). When the same rock music is played to people as that when they were observing a film or a physical activity it has been found that visual recall is improved. As remembering how to perform a physical task (such as cubing) is heavily linked to the visualisation of carrying out the task there would be a clear artificial aid to performance.
2. Passive noise cancelling to aid concentration does not really seem to be an issue as the methods of achieving this are fairly cheap thus keeping a level playing field as opposed to active systems that can be very expensive and would disadvantage some competitors.
3. Listening to algorithms or an auditory aide-mémoire is clearly only possible with non-passive headphones and I think point 1 has shown the reason for wanting these is already a non starter as an artificial aid. I also think that it would be too slow for normal solving and for BLD the accomplice would need a clear view of the cube and might just be spotted passing the information.
I also believe that part of competing is handling distractions, maintaining your focus and performing under pressure. Producing the fastest times under these conditions is the mark of a champion.
1. Listening to music to improve performance.
2. Blocking out noise based distractions to improve performance.
3. Cheating by obtaining help during a solve.
1. Studies have shown that listening to music around 60 bpm, especially baroque such as Vivaldi and Mozart can aid memory retention while studying and that added benefits can be obtained by listening to the same music during recall. This could easily be deemed to be an artificial aid to performance.
Rock music has been shown to be an aid to visual memory even though it has been proven to have a negative effect on recall on paper based learning of information (such as written algorithms). When the same rock music is played to people as that when they were observing a film or a physical activity it has been found that visual recall is improved. As remembering how to perform a physical task (such as cubing) is heavily linked to the visualisation of carrying out the task there would be a clear artificial aid to performance.
2. Passive noise cancelling to aid concentration does not really seem to be an issue as the methods of achieving this are fairly cheap thus keeping a level playing field as opposed to active systems that can be very expensive and would disadvantage some competitors.
3. Listening to algorithms or an auditory aide-mémoire is clearly only possible with non-passive headphones and I think point 1 has shown the reason for wanting these is already a non starter as an artificial aid. I also think that it would be too slow for normal solving and for BLD the accomplice would need a clear view of the cube and might just be spotted passing the information.
I also believe that part of competing is handling distractions, maintaining your focus and performing under pressure. Producing the fastest times under these conditions is the mark of a champion.
Bill is so jokes.
