Brain responses that predict athletic performance

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The below may be of interest:

Brain responses that predict athletic performance

Taken from:

http://mindblog.dericbownds.net/

An Italian group, studying a group of expert golfers, has found that

before a successful golf putt EEG (electroencephalogram) high-

frequency alpha waves (10-12 Hz) over frontal motor areas are smaller

in amplitude. Here is their abstract from the Journal of Physiology

article:

It is not known whether frontal cerebral rhythms of the two

hemispheres are implicated in fine motor control and balance. To

address this issue, electroencephalographic (EEG) and stabilometric

recordings were simultaneously performed in 12 right-handed expert

golfers. The subjects were asked to stand upright on a stabilometric

force platform placed at a golf green simulator while playing about

100 golf putts. Balance during the putts was indexed by body sway

area. Cortical activity was indexed by the power reduction in

spatially-enhanced alpha (8-12 Hz) and beta (13-30 Hz) rhythms during

movement, referred to a pre-movement period. It was found that the

body sway area displayed similar values in the successful and

unsuccessful putts. In contrast, the high-frequency alpha power

(about 10-12 Hz) was smaller in amplitude in the successful than in

the unsuccessful putts over the frontal midline and the arm and hand

region of the right primary sensorimotor area; the stronger the

reduction of the alpha power, the smaller the error of the

unsuccessful putts (i.e. distance from the hole).

These results indicate that high-frequency alpha rhythms over

associative, premotor and non-dominant primary sensorimotor areas

subserve motor control and are predictive of the golfer's performance.

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Carruthers

Wakefield, UK