Decision-Making Processes 91 91 Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Markus Raab, Insti- tute for Movement Sciences and Sport, University of Flensburg, Flensburg, Germany Auf dem Campus 1, 24943 Flensburg, raab@uni-flensburg.de AN EXPLICIT INVESTIGATION OF IMPLICIT DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES A REPLY TO Poplu, Baratgin, Mavromatis, & Ripoll (2003). What kind of processes underlie decision making in soccer simulation? An implicit-memory investigation. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 1, 390-405. MARKUS RAAB University of Flensburg, Germany ABSTRACT Using the concept of ecological rationality, different conclusions from those of Pop- lu, Baratgin, Mavromatis, and Ripoll in “What kind of processes underlie decision making in soccer simulation? An implicit-memory investigation” (2003, Internation- al Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 1 , 390-405) can be drawn. The choice of environmental context and structure imposes constraints on possible interpreta- tions of the obtained results. The implications of Poplu et al.’s data, new evidence, and the relationship between implicit and explicit decision-making processes are discussed with the aim of enhancing performance in real game situations. Key Words: implicit and explicit processes, decision making, sports, ecological rationality ISJEP, 2005, 1, 7-25 © 2005 West Virginia University Poplu, Baratgin, Mavromatis, and Ripoll (2003) asked in a recent article ( International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 1 , 390-405) an important question, “What kind of processes underlie decision making in soccer simulation?” The authors can be congratulated on their experimental investigation and their conclusion that “the results showed that the nature of the processing depended on the characteristics of the deci- sion-making task being considered” (p. 390). I would like to comment on one theoretical and one practical issue—not to question the value of the empirical findings themselves, but rather to suggest how these results can be integrated in a theoretical framework that extends Poplu et al.’s approach and offers practical advice for real training settings.