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Neural processes that inhibit behavior also play an important role in decision-making in soccer players.Provided by: Osaka Metropolitan University
To pass or not to pass? That's the question soccer players around the world face every match. It may not be surprising that more skilled players are better at executing actions than less skilled players, but now a research team led by Osaka Metropolitan University has discovered that the neural processes that inhibit actions are also important. We have evidence that it plays a role. The survey results are brain science.
Assistant Professor Takahiro Matsutake of the Urban Health and Sports Research Center and his colleagues conducted an experiment to examine how soccer players can perform at three levels when faced with the same task.
The researchers recruited 14 college soccer players, half of whom were highly skilled and seven graduate students who had no formal soccer training. All 21 subjects were male. As part of the experiment, participants were shown a series of photos showing different placements of two defenders and three offensive teammates from a first-person perspective. Participants were required to press a button on a footswitch if a downfield pass between two defenders was possible.
Reaction times were significantly shorter in the expert group than in the novice group, and the variation was smaller in the expert group. Furthermore, electroencephalography revealed neural waveforms that showed that the more skilled players were, the more powerful the inhibitory processes that inhibit motor responses were.
Professor Matsutake said, “The results of this study will help advance our understanding of perception, cognition, and behavior in soccer players.'' “In the future, we will verify whether training that takes reaction inhibition into account improves athletes' performance, and aim to establish effective training methods.”
For more information:
Takahiro Matsutake et al. “Fast and stable reactions during decision-making require strong inhibitory processes in soccer players.” brain science (2024). DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14030199