Thursday, April 22, 2010

Sports Brain

The thing that bugs me about THIS STUDY FROM SULLY is that the "sport" they choose to use is pistol shooting. Now, I'm not going to get into whether or not I consider this to be a sport, but I am pretty sure that it requires absolute quiet, concentration, and an absolutely static combination of muscle memory and environment. When a competitive shooter performs, everything is always the exact same, so if he's done it thousands of times of course it's going to be when his brain is at it's most relaxed. He probably has more brain activity while making toast in the morning. I fail to see why this would really tell us anything, opposed to say a major league shortstop who in the seconds before the pitch is thrown has to to spin through his mind pitch count/pitch selection & location/batter's tendencies/men on base/score/outs/inning etc etc etc, and THEN has to run through it all again as the ball's in play. I would be interested to see the brain activity of Derek Jeter while on the field, not some guy whose conditions for performance include "everything must be the exact same with no change or disturbance."

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