Abstract
Enhancing performance levels of athletes during training and competition is a desired goal in sports. Quantifying training success is typically accompanied by performance diagnostics including the assessment of sports-relevant behavioral and physiological parameters. Even though optimal brain processing is a key factor for augmented motor performance and skill learning, neurodiagnostics is typically not implemented in performance diagnostics of athletes. We propose, that neurodiagnostics via non-invasive brain imaging techniques such as functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) will offer novel perspectives to quantify training-induced neuroplasticity and its relation to motor behavior. A better understanding of such a brain-behavior relationship during the execution of sport-specific movements might help to guide training processes and to optimize training outcomes. Furthermore, targeted non-invasive brain stimulation such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) might help to further enhance training outcomes by modulating brain areas that show training-induced neuroplasticity. However, we strongly suggest that ethical aspects in the use of non-invasive brain stimulation during training and/or competition need to be addressed before neuromodulation can be considered as a performance enhancer in sports.
Highlights
‘‘Citius, Altius, Fortius’’—Boosting motor performance and skills in athletes on a relatively short time scale and with little effort is a desired goal in professional sports
It is not surprising that only a little attention was paid to the role of optimal brain processing and its effects on motor performance or skill learning in athletes
We argue that a better understanding of such a brain-behavior relationship and its training-induced adaptations might help to enhance performance levels and motor skill learning in athletes
Summary
‘‘Citius, Altius, Fortius’’—Boosting motor performance and skills in athletes on a relatively short time scale and with little effort is a desired goal in professional sports. It is not surprising that only a little attention was paid to the role of optimal brain processing and its effects on motor performance or skill learning in athletes Neurodiagnostic tools such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) have been extensively used to assess brain-behavior relationships over the lifespan. Gryga et al (2012) found that participants with the highest density of GM in the cerebellum, an area that plays an important role in processing complex movement patterns, were those with the greatest training outcome in a sequential pinch force task Apart from these exciting insights, the key limitation of the aforementioned studies is that MRI assessments did not allow online measurements of functional neuroplasticity during motor skill learning and/or training of motor abilities in athletes. It seems to be reasonable to first understand the exact underlying mechanisms and to quantify optimal stimulation parameters to use non-invasive brain stimulation in athletes more effectively
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