More About Sports Performance & Neurofeedback and References

According to a 2007 article in the Journal of the American Board of Sport Psychology, neurofeedback holds great potential for athletes to retrain brainwave activity to achieve optimal performance in various sports without the use of performance enhancing drugs. The process offers the potential for improving:

  • concentration and focus
  • reduction of anxiety
  • mental flexibility
  • cognitive function and emotional control
  • physical balance in gymnastics, ice skating, skiing, and other areas of athletic performance
  • overcoming effects from mild head injuries and concussions

“Different sports place different demands on the brain and increasingly sophisticated research has begun delineating brainwave pattens associated with various types of peak performance.”

In such cases this provides us with important data that may guide the use of neurofeedback training to promote peak performance, to train specific changes in brain state, in particular brain locations, and in particular ways to improve one’s ability to be relaxed and focused to more efficiently focus on the immediate task at hand.

Examples: Marksmanship, Golf, Archery

In the area of marksmanship, it was discovered that during aiming, when marksmen were compared with novice shooters, marksmen exhibited less activation (increased alpha with less beta and gamma EEG activity) at all electrode sites on the head. The most pronounced differences were in the left central temporal-parietal areas. In relation to findings regarding anxiety and verbal processing, it is interesting that there have been reports of elevated left temporal alpha power in marksmen during response preparation. This has been interpreted to indicate the suppression of verbal-analytic processes.

These results are congruent with other research in the sport psychology literature that have shown less left hemisphere activation (more left hemisphere alpha power) in the preparatory period before golf putting and archery. In a longitudinal study over 14 weeks of archery training, it was discovered that left temporal alpha power increased and correlated with improved performance.

Athletes in some sports may need training to actually decrease alpha and theta activity in different areas of the brain, while increasing beta activity to produce an entirely different kind of concentration or arousal.

In addition to different demands being placed on the brain by different kinds of sports activities, the brain functioning of individual athletes also varies due to the influence of genetics (e.g., with ADD/ADHD) as well as variables such as head injuries. For instance, there is some evidence that soccer players who do a lot of headers may experience EEG and neurologic changes and have neuropsychological deficits. Thus, not all brains need the same kind of training.

Neurofeedback to Enhance Physical Balance

Another area where neurofeedback may hold potential for improving athletic performance is in facilitating greater physical balance (such as in gymnastics, skiing, ice skating, hockey, skateboarding, snowboarding, ballet, tennis, martial arts, basketball, baseball, football, etc. Whereas neurofeedback for conditions such as ADD/ADHD commonly involve 40-50 treatment sessions, neurofeedback to improve balance has usually consisted of only 8-10 sessions. Patients with balance problems can usually discern a difference in their balance after 1-2 sessions.

References

Collie, A., Makdissi, M., Maruff, P., Bennell, K., & McCrory, P. (2006). Cognition in the days following concussion: comparison of symptomatic versus asymptomatic athletes. Journal of Neurological & Neurosurgical Psychiatry, 77(2), 241-245.

Crews, D. J., & Landers, D. M. (1993). Electroencephalographic measures of attentional patterns prior to the golf putt. Medical Science & Sports Exercise, 25(1), 116-126.

Demos, J. (2004). Getting Started in Neurofeedback. New York: W. W. Norton.

Egner, t., & Gruzelier, J. H. (2003). Ecological validity of neurofeedback: modulation of slow wave EEG enhances musical performance. NeuroReport, 14(9), 1221-1224.

Hammond, D. C. (2005a). Neurofeedback with anxiety and affective disorders. Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 14(1), 105-123.

Hammond, D. C. (2005b). Neurofeedback to improve physical balance, incontinence, and swallowing. Journal of Neurotherapy, 9(1), 27-36.

Hatfield, D. B., Landers, D. M., & Ray, W. J. (1984). Cognitive processes during self paced motor performance: An electroencephalographic profile of skilled marksmen. Journal of Sports Psychology, 6, 42-59.

Hatfield, D. B., Landers, D. M., & Ray, W. J. (1987). Cardiovascular-CNS interactions during a self-paced intentional attentive state: Elite marksmanship performance. Psychophysiology, 24(5), 542-549.

Haufler, A. J., Spalding, T. W., Santa Maria, D. L., & Hatfield, B. D. (2000). Neuro cognitive activity during a self-paced visuospatial task: Comparative EEG profiles in marksmen and novice shooters. Biological Psychology, 53, 131-160.

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Landers, D. M. (1991). Optimizing individual performance. Chapter in D. Druckman & R. A. Bjork (Eds.), In the Mind’s Eye: Enhancing Human Performance. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, pp. 193-246.

Landers, D. M., Han, M., Salazar, W., Petruzzello, S. J., Kubitz, K. A., & Gannon, T. L. (1994). Effect of learning on electroencephalographic and electrocardiographic patterns in novice archers. International Journal of Sports Psychology, 22, 56-71.

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Thompson, M., & Thompson, L. (2003). The Neurofeedback Book. Wheat Ridge, CO: Association for Applied Psychophysiology & Biofeedback.

Tranel, D. (2002). Functional neuroanatomy. Chapter in S. C. Yudolfsky & R. E. Hales (Eds), Textbook of Neuropsychiatry & Clinical Neurosciences (4 th edition). Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association Press, pp. 71-112.

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