Deceptive actions in combat sports: an antagonistic decision-making perspective from the lens of "Shi".

Deceptive actions are prevalent in combat sports, yet existing research is limited by a focus on ball sports, fragmented single-level explanations, and a lack of cross-level integration. This paper introduces "Shi" ()-a concept from Chinese martial arts denoting a dynamic strategic advantage emerging from posture, intention, and momentum-as an analytical lens to address these gaps. We propose an integrative framework in which "Shi" operates across biomechanical, cognitive, and dynamic levels. The framework's core mechanism is a hypothesized cross-level cascade: deception is proposed to induce bodily imbalance, which is theorized to impair cognitive judgment, which in turn is predicted to undermine psychological momentum, forming a self-reinforcing downward spiral. This cascade mechanism distinguishes the "Shi" framework from existing single-level accounts and offers a novel perspective for understanding deception, anticipation, and decision-making in combat sports, generating empirically testable hypotheses for future research.