To triumph over competition, athletes must be the fastest, strongest and the nimblest contenders. Recordbreakers must push even further, surpassing the limits of human capability.
But besides their physical prowess, athletes harness a unique set of mental skills that allows them to succeed in their respective disciplines. Numerous studies have shown that athletes' brains differ from nonathletes' brains.
Visual cue processing
The ability to quickly soak up visual information and make decisions accordingly is a crucial skill for athletes, especially those who play team sports. A 2013 study in the journal Scientific Reports revealed that professional ice hockey, soccer and rugby players are better visual learners than people with lowerlevel abilities in the same sports.
The pros were compared with 'elite amateurs'— in this case, US college athletes and players from a European Olympic sport-training centre. They were also compared with non-athlete university students. Compared with both groups, professional athletes performed better, and improved faster, on a task that tested their ability to focus on and track objects moving across a screen. In other words, their brains are more skilled at processing “dynamic visual scenes”, or the world moving around them, the study authors found. The elite amateurs were also better at this than the non-athletes.
This knowledge could be used to enhance an athlete's training and determine the best time for them to return to their sport following an injury, said Jocelyn Faubert, author of the 2013 Scientific Reports study and a professor at the University of Montreal School of Optometry. For example, assessing how efficiently an athlete can process visual information and not make judgment errors could prevent them from coming back too early and putting themselves in danger, he said.
Muscle memory
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der September 08, 2024-Ausgabe von THE WEEK India.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der September 08, 2024-Ausgabe von THE WEEK India.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
War Over Wounded Earth
For the BJP andthe Congress, the ravaged farmlands of Vidarbha represent a cxitieal battleground in their larger struggle to win Maharashtra
Say no to continual elections
Following the recommendations of a high-level committee led by former president Ram Nath Kovind to streamline the widely scattered schedule of national, state and local elections, the Union cabinet has reportedly approved two constitutional amendment bills for likely introduction in Parliament. Predictably, the return of the ‘one nation, one election’ issue to news has set off a flurry of objections by several opposition leaders.
Fabulously, fashionably funny
The third season of the Karan Johar-produced Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives dropped on Netflix, but articles criticising the show appear in some news site or the other almost daily. If it is so bad, why keep writing about it? And if it is so bad, why would the superpowers at Netflix, who are harder to meet than the prime minister, commission the show season after season?
All in the family
The Chitaras have been passing down the secret art of Mata Ni Pachedi through generations for more than 400 years now
Raise a toast to Vidya Balan
Vidya Balan is a New Year baby. At 45, she is aglow in the most beautiful way, having won the hearts and admiration of countless fans across the world, who watched the supremely talented actor take a public tumble on stage at a high-profile promotional event recently, sharing the platform with no less a dancer than the eternally graceful Madhuri Dixit.
Death no bar
Being alive is not a legal requirement to be elected president of the United States
The Lotus POTUS
You should visit us one of these days— there is so much excitement in our USA! No, I don’t mean the famous USA—the Ulhasnagar Sindhi Association of Mumbai.
RAY OF HOPE
Actor and cancer survivor Lisa Ray talks to oncologist Dr Jame Abraham about inner strength and her surrogacy journey
LEVERAGE AI TO ENHANCE WORK
AT THE WEEK Health Summit, Siddharth Bagga, head (retail, CPG and health care), Google Cloud, elaborated on the significant work that Google has been doing in health care through artificial intelligence (AI).
PRESSURE POINTS
Author and MP Shashi Tharoor and motivational speaker Gaur Gopal Das on how to find healing and meaning in today's world