Effort Instructions and Preparation Time in Basketball Head Fakes: An Ex-Gaussian Analysis of Fake- Production Costs

Effort Instructions and Preparation Time in Basketball Head Fakes: An Ex-Gaussian Analysis of Fake- Production Costs | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Effort Instructions and Preparation Time in Basketball Head Fakes: An Ex-Gaussian Analysis of Fake- Production Costs Nathanael Adu, Kofi Nyantakyi Appiah, Divyanshu Kumar Singh, Edward Edem Nartey This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9164658/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This analysis examined how try-harder instructions and preparation time modulate fake-production costs in basketball head fakes. Using an openly available dataset of 40 male players (22 novices, 18 experienced), ex-Gaussian parameters (mu, tau) were derived from initiation-time distributions for passes with and without head fakes across three interstimulus intervals (0, 500, 1000 ms) and two instruction conditions (Standard, Effort). Fake-production costs were computed as within-subject differences (Fake - Pass) for mu and tau and analyzed with linear mixed-effects models and within-subject effect sizes. Mu-based fake-production costs were large at 0 ms and markedly reduced at 500 and 1000 ms, indicating that preparation time strongly attenuates the mean latency costs associated with generating deceptive actions. Effort instructions did not reliably change mu-based costs but selectively reduced tau-based variability costs, particularly for novices at long preparation intervals, consistent with a reduction of attentional lapses rather than a uniform speeding of processing. These findings refine accounts of deceptive action production by showing that preparation time primarily mitigates coordination demands reflected in mean RT, whereas short-term effort mobilization preferentially stabilizes the tail of the RT distribution, especially when deceptive skills are not yet fully automatized. Head fake deceptive actions effort instructions reaction time distributions ex-Gaussian Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9164658","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":611824498,"identity":"e730812c-b233-4d7d-b755-dea3552242c4","order_by":0,"name":"Nathanael Adu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Mampong Technical College of Education","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Nathanael","middleName":"","lastName":"Adu","suffix":""},{"id":611824499,"identity":"8e1750d0-f0af-42a1-aef4-323f55ac864a","order_by":1,"name":"Kofi Nyantakyi Appiah","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"Wesley College of Education","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Kofi","middleName":"Nyantakyi","lastName":"Appiah","suffix":""},{"id":611824500,"identity":"78197d26-17c2-4805-bee2-0b21b126f6a9","order_by":2,"name":"Divyanshu Kumar Singh","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Lovely Professional University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Divyanshu","middleName":"Kumar","lastName":"Singh","suffix":""},{"id":611824501,"identity":"13ddb56a-5ef1-41e4-ad06-5c637f162b3a","order_by":3,"name":"Edward Edem Nartey","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Cape Coast","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Edward","middleName":"Edem","lastName":"Nartey","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-19 04:08:17","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9164658/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9164658/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":106486864,"identity":"54475fb1-32d2-4a33-96de-de8ce53a52e7","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-09 06:26:46","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":596704,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"EffortInstructionsandPreparationTimeinBasketballHeadFakes.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9164658/v1_covered_a98bba90-bb27-4821-8988-2ab80395b7c4.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Effort Instructions and Preparation Time in Basketball Head Fakes: An Ex-Gaussian Analysis of Fake- Production Costs","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Head fake, deceptive actions, effort instructions, reaction time distributions, ex-Gaussian","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9164658/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9164658/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"This analysis examined how try-harder instructions and preparation time modulate fake-production costs in basketball head fakes. Using an openly available dataset of 40 male players (22 novices, 18 experienced), ex-Gaussian parameters (mu, tau) were derived from initiation-time distributions for passes with and without head fakes across three interstimulus intervals (0, 500, 1000 ms) and two instruction conditions (Standard, Effort). Fake-production costs were computed as within-subject differences (Fake - Pass) for mu and tau and analyzed with linear mixed-effects models and within-subject effect sizes. Mu-based fake-production costs were large at 0 ms and markedly reduced at 500 and 1000 ms, indicating that preparation time strongly attenuates the mean latency costs associated with generating deceptive actions. Effort instructions did not reliably change mu-based costs but selectively reduced tau-based variability costs, particularly for novices at long preparation intervals, consistent with a reduction of attentional lapses rather than a uniform speeding of processing. 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