Head Game | Illumination

Stadler enrolled in graduate school at Purdue University, earning his master's degree in 1987, and his doctorate in 1989. His dissertation, "Chunking and Implicit Pattern Learning in a Serial Reaction Time Task," examined forms of learning that seem to occur automatically; that is, types of knowledge acquisition in which individuals cannot describe what they have learned, even though it influences how they perform the skill. An example of this is language learning: Children quickly pick up the rules of grammar long before they receive formal education.

The doctorate led to an assistant professorship at Louisiana State University, where Stadler remained three years. Since arriving at MU in 1992, Stadler has won teaching awards, obtained grants, including one from the National Institute of Mental Health for "Contrasting Implicit and Explicit Learning," and, most recently, has become deeply involved in the MU Honors College.

The Honors College excels at melding disparate disciplines. MU psychology professor Tim Trull marvels at how, in that same spirit, the new author is able to apply research to athletes and their fans with equal relevance. Another colleague, Professor Alan J. Strathman, takes it a step further. "Psychologists have been very concerned lately that the public does not understand what psychology is all about," Strathman says. "It's not simply about Freud and profiling serial killers for the FBI, but that's a common misperception. A book like Mike's helps give psychology away to the public, so that they get a more representative view of what it really is, and so that they can get the benefit of a lot of research they simply do not know exists."

In the book's chapter about the complexity of baseball players catching fly balls, Stadler cites some of that research, as carried out by an academic named Mike McBeath. Now an associate professor of psychology at Arizona State University, McBeath directs the program on cognition, action and perception. McBeath says it makes sense to popularize that research with examples from baseball, which "can be thought of as a metaphor for many human endeavors."

Metaphors, cognitive research and anything else sounding academic tend to play poorly among professional athletes. Within Major League Baseball, Stadler received almost no cooperation while gathering information for the book. Dave Ritterpusch served as a rare exception.

Not a professional athlete himself, Ritterpusch parlayed an unusual career in the U.S. military, the executive branch of the federal government and private consulting into a job with the Baltimore Orioles. Once inside, Ritterpusch pioneered psychological testing for players as early as 1973. He was sympathetic to the cold shoulder Stadler received from major leaguers, and advised him not to worry too much about it.

There is a "tendency by people in baseball to not want to go beyond the physical. They don't want to hear about, can't see beyond, physical ability," Ritterpusch told Stadler. "The same people believe the earth is flat."

Published by the Office of Research.