Dr Colm Murphy

Colm’s research focuses primarily on expert anticipation and decision making. In particular, he is interested in how expert performers utilise the various information sources they have available to them (e.g., opponent action preferences, kinematic/postural cues) to judge opponent intentions. Given the demands athletes are placed under in real-world competition, his research also aims to ascertain how factors such as fatigue and cognitive load affect anticipation. While perceptual-cognitive expertise is Colm’s primary focus, he also conducts research across a range of contemporary skill acquisition topics, e.g., practice structure, instruction, and feedback, to further understand how to design the most effective practice environments for skill acquisition.

Refereed Academic Journal Papers

Jewell, S., Murphy, C. P., Pocock, C., & North, J. S. (in press). Exploring how the experiences of English youth football coaches have shaped their approach to player learning. Journal of Sport and Exercise Science.

Riches, K. M. L., Murphy, C. P., & Broadbent, D. P. (2021). Skill-based differences in the use of auditory information from intrateam communication during anticipation in lacrosse. Journal of Expertise, 4, 365-374.

Murphy, C. P., Wakefield, A., Birch, P. D. J., & North, J. S. (2020). Esport expertise benefits perceptual-cognitive skill in (traditional) sport. Journal of Expertise, 3, 227-237.

Dancy, P. & Murphy, C. P. (2020). The effect of equipment modification on the performance of novice junior cricket batters. Journal of Sports Sciences, 38, 2415-2422.

Murphy, C. P., Jackson, R. C., & Williams, A. M. (2019). Informational constraints, option generation, and anticipation. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 41, 54-62.

North, J. S., Bezodis, N. E., Murphy, C. P., Runswick, O. R., Pocock, C, & Roca, A. (2019). The effect of consistent and varied follow-through practice schedules on learning a table tennis backhand. Journal of Sports Sciences, 37, 613-620.

Jalali, S., Martin, S. E., Murphy, C. P., Solomon, J. A., & Yarrow, K. (2018). Classification videos reveal the visual information driving complex, real-world speeded decisions. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 2229.

Murphy, C. P., Jackson, R. C., & Williams, A. M. (2018). The role of contextual information during skilled anticipation. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 71, 2070-2087.

Murphy, C. P., Jackson, R. C., Cooke, K., Roca, A., Benguigui, N., & Williams, A. M. (2016). Contextual information and perceptual-cognitive expertise in a dynamic, temporally-constrained task. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 22, 455-470.

Moran, K., Murphy, C. P., Marshall, B. (2012). The need and benefit of augmented feedback on service speed in tennis. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 44, 754-760.

Book Chapters

Williams, A. M., Fawver, B., Broadbent, D. P., Murphy, C. P., & Ward, P. (2019). Skilled anticipation in sport: past, present, and future. In P. Ward, J. M Schraagen, J. Gore, & E. M. Roth (Eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Expertise (pp. 594-617). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Murphy, C. P., Jackson, R. C., & Williams, A. M. (2019). Contextual information and its role in expert anticipation. In A. M. Williams & R. C. Jackson (Eds.) Anticipation and Decision Making in Sport (pp. 43-58). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Williams, A. M., Murphy, C. P., Broadbent, D. P., & Janelle, C. M. (2018). Anticipation in sport. In T. Horn, & A. Smith (Eds.) Advances in Sport Psychology (pp. 229-246). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Hendry, D. T., Murphy, C. P., Williams, A. M., & Hodges, N. J. (2016). Improving anticipation in racket sports: An evidence-based intervention. In S. Cotterill, N. Weston, & G. Breslin (Eds.) Sport and Exercise Psychology: Practitioner Case Studies (pp. 279-298). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

Conference Presentations

Bull, H., Murphy, C. P., Gilham, J. Atack, A. C. (2022). Effects of fatigue on rugby place kicking technique and performance. ISBS Proceedings Archive, 40, 26.

Roca, A. Gomez, C., & Murphy, C. P. (2021). An Investigation of the cognitive processes underlying soccer coaches’ decision-making during competition. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 43, S44.

Atack, A. C., Murphy, C. P., & North, J. S. (2020). The effect of representative task design on ground reaction forces produced by adolescent rugby players. ISBS Proceedings Archive, 38, 484.

Murphy, C. P., Jackson, R. C., & Williams, A. M. (2018). Option generation and skilled anticipation behaviour in tennis. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 40, S32.

Murphy, C. P., Jackson, R. C., & Williams, A. M. (2016). The effect of sequencing information on anticipation. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 38, S90.

Murphy, C. P., Jackson, R. C., & Williams, A. M. (2015). Perceiving context: the key to anticipation in sport?. In O. Schmid, S. Seiler (Eds.) 14th European Congress of Sport Psychology, July, 2015, Bern, Switzerland, 154.

Murphy, C. P., Jackson, R. C., Roca, A., & Williams, A. M. (2015). Cognitive processes underlying anticipation in a context-oriented task. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 37, S53.

Murphy, C. P., Jackson, R. C., & Williams, A. M. (2014). The use of contextual information in expert tennis anticipation. In A. De Haan, C. J. De Ruiter, E. Tsolakidis (Eds.) 19th Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science, July, 2014, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Moran, K., Murphy, C. P., Cahill, G., & Marshall, B. (2009). Augmented knowledge of results feedback in tennis serve training, In A. J. Harrison, R. Anderson, I. Kenny (Eds.) 27th International Conference on Biomechanics in Sports, July, 2009, Limerick, Ireland, 289-292.

Moran, K., Murphy, C. P., Cahill, G., & Marshall, B. (2009). Can elite tennis players judge their service speed?. In A. J. Harrison, R. Anderson, I. Kenny (Eds.) 27th International Conference on Biomechanics in Sports, July, 2009, Limerick, Ireland, 340-342.

Teaching

Colm currently teaches on modules in the area of sport and exercise psychology across undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, with a specific focus on expertise and skill acquisition. He is the module leader for the Level 6 Interdisciplinary Sport and Exercise Science (SSP6125) module. He is also a personal tutor to students on the Sport and Exercise Science degree programme and a supervisor for dissertation projects.

Current PhD Supervision

Alex Woodhead. Title: Investigating the Time Course of Corticospinal and Spinal Adaptations to Motor Skill and Resistance Training. Registered at St Mary’s University and co-supervised by Dr Jamie Tallent, Dr Jamie North and Dr Jess Hill.

Shahbaz Hassan. Title: The Acquisition and Updating of Contextual Information to Inform Anticipation Judgments. Registered at St Mary’s University and co-supervised by Dr Jamie North, Dr André Roca and Dr David Broadbent.

Will Follis. Title: Investigating Perceptual-Cognitive Skill in Youth Football: Implications for Talent Development and Perceptual-Cognitive Training Methods. Registered at St Mary’s University and co-supervised by Dr Jamie North, Dr André Roca and Dr David Broadbent.

• PhD, Expertise and Skill Acquisition, Brunel University London. Supervisors: Professor Mark Williams and Dr Robin Jackson.
• BSc (Hons) Sport Science and Health, Dublin City University.
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Colm has been a member of the Expertise and Skill Acquisition Network since 2013. He is an invited peer reviewer for several academic journals.

Research Funding

International Society of Biomechanics in Sports Internship Grant (2020), The effect of fatigue on rugby place kicking technique and performance, Atack, A. & Murphy, C. P., Grant Value: €2,000.

Colm has over 12 years’ applied experience, having held positions as a coach, trainer and sport scientist with national governing bodies and at performance centres in the UK and Ireland. In his spare time, Colm enjoys running and hiking.