Understanding the neurocognitive mechanisms of sports performance under pressure through cognitive training

Accumulating research has emphasised that anxiety can profoundly interfere with task performance during sporting competitive contexts. Recent research has implicated disruptions to attentional control in explaining such impairments. The present PhD thesis intended to build upon recent advances in sports science and cognitive affective neuroscience, by marrying theoretical predictions from the Attentional Control Theory (ACT; Eysenck, Derakshan, Santos & Calvo, 2007) with recent developments in cognitive training, to develop lab based training interventions, to improve attentional focus and performance in lab-based and field-based sporting tasks performed under pressure. In doing so, another critical aim of the thesis was to identify potential neurocognitive mechanisms by which the experience of pressure related anxiety in sporting contexts can lead to impairments in motor performance. In Chapter 2, a sample of tennis players undertook training on a novel visual search training task designed to enhance inhibitory control. Transfer effects of training were observed on a lab index of inhibition, tennis performance and gaze behaviours reflecting attentional control in tennis. Results of Chapter 3 in turn revealed that training on a an adaptive working memory training task, resulted in transfer effects on indices of WMC, tennis performance and gaze behaviours. In Chapter 4 an 5 the emphasis was placed on the potential impact of attentional biases on performance under pressure. In Chapter 4, tennis players undertook an Attentional Bias Modification training intervention and results indicated that the intervention elicited significant changes in attentional bias with transfer effects of training also being observed on tennis performance. Finally, in Chapter 5, a study was conducted to explore whether neural markers of cognitive effort and error monitoring would modulate the attentional bias-performance relationship in a sample of experienced tennis players. Result indicated that the relationship between levels of attentional biases and tennis performance was modulated by the N2 as measured on a flanker task. Performance was also associated with participants’ levels of attentional biases which was in turn modulated by their gaze behaviours during the tennis task performed under pressure. Overall, findings from this PhD thesis suggest that it is possible to target specific cognitive mechanisms such as attentional control and attentional biases, using lab based interventions, to enable athletes to cope with the negative impact of competitive pressure on motor performance. Moreover, the current findings provide novel insight into the potential neurocognitive mechanisms that modulate how sports performers respond to competitive pressure

Spatiotemporal biases in manual interception: effects of visual and auditory information processing

This thesis assesses interrelations between spatial and temporal processing by investigating early psychophysical phenomena and implementing new empirical approaches on spatiotemporal processing in the context of movements. It consequently provides new perspectives to current theoretical debates on spatiotemporal processing. The processing of space and time is prone to distortions. For example, spatial length and temporal duration can impact the perception of each other (reciprocally). Longer lines are perceived to be presented for longer temporal intervals and (potentially) vice versa. Here it is argued that such spatiotemporal interrelations depend on the type of sensory input (e.g., visual or auditory), because the precision of spatial and temporal representations differs between sensory modalities. In summary, this thesis shows that i) spatiotemporal biases can transfer from perceptual judgements to motoric responses (i.e., interception and eye movements), that ii) the type of sensory input impacts these interrelations, and that iii) this effect of sensory modality might derive from differences in the acuity of the signal (and consequently representational noise). Thereby, the results indicate that seemingly contradictory theoretical predictions and related empirical findings might be explained by the involved sensory modalities, shed light on the potential impact of spatiotemporal biases on everyday tasks and add towards the debate on the perception-action dissociation, and more concretely on the discussions about visual illusions transferring to action

ALTERNATE FOOT PLACEMENT: INVESTIGATING THE ROLE OF GAIT PARAMETERS, PLANAR OBSTACLE COMPLEXITY, AND ATHLETIC TRAINING

On a daily basis modifications, based upon environmental demands and the capabilities of the individual, are made to the locomotor pattern to enable avoidance of undesirable landing areas (i.e. planar obstacles). Athletes and dancers have been suggested to have superior perception-action coupling compared to non-athletes, allowing them to perform various tasks at a greater speed without a loss of precision (Federici et al., 2005; Gerin-Lajoie et al. (2007). The current study assessed non-athletes, dancers, and field athletes to investigate whether training influences the maintenance of forward progression and stability in relation to alternate foot placement during planar obstacle avoidance. Eleven field athletes (22± 2.68 years) having recent/ current sport participation, 10 individuals (21.1± 1.1 years) with previous/current dance training, and 12 non-athletes (21.75± 1.54 years) with no participation in organized sport in \u3e5 years were asked to walk to a goal (~13 m away) at a self-selected pace, avoiding any obstacle(s) when present (50% of trials; 15cm wide x 70cm long rectangles, projected ~8m from the start position). Obstacle conditions were: 1) Single obstacle appearance (SIN) where the obstacle (at N) appeared when the participant was 2 steps away from the first obstacle (N-2) ; 2) Double obstacle appearance was delayed (DDEL) until at N-2; and 3) Double obstacle appearance after participants reached steady state (i.e. ~3 steps from start)(DSS). All participants, regardless of training, stepped medially during SIN. Avoidance during double obstacle conditions was variable (i.e. medial-medial, medial-lateral, and lateral-medial). The variability of behaviour, computed as a coefficient of unalikeability (the proportion of possible comparisons which are unalike), had significant moderate positive correlations with the minimum Dynamic Stability Margin at N-1 for DSS and DDEL (r = 0.36; r = 0.44, respectively, p\u3c0.001) and a significant weak positive relationship with ML COM variability (r = 0.28, p\u3c0.05) during DDEL. To a degree, greater ML COM variability leads to avoidance behaviour that exploits forward progression more so than stability, as stepping medially perturbs the COM the least from its forward momentum but narrows the BOS creating instability that must be offset in the following step. Avoidance of planar obstacles at a comfortable walk lacked context specificity to dance or field sport training to elicit any behavioural differences

Investigating the modulation of cognition and event-related potentials relating to visual attention, working memory, and executive control in habitual videogame players

The overall objective of this thesis was to produce a document that investigated whether habitual videogame playing modulated cognitive processes related to visual processing and where in the processing stream these modulations occur. In this thesis, the term ‘cognitive modulation’ refers to any neurological differences (as identified through ERP) between videogame players and non-videogame players that theoretically may have been a result of videogame playing. Using this method, I am able to ascertain whether differences between the two groups are observed in early sensory ERPs, in which case VGPs might possess an advantage in bottom-up visual processing, later selective attention which might indicate alterations in top-down attentional processing, motor-response waveforms that may indicate difference in stimulus response mappings, and finally any differences in working memory capacity that might be the underlying cause of supposed attentional differences. An example of cognitive modulation was observed by Wu et al., (2012) and discussed in more detail in the introduction of this thesis. Indeed these modulations should also be accompanied by a behavioural difference between the two groups. As ERP was the primary source of neurophysiological recordings in this thesis, modulations could occur in the amplitude, mean activity, or peak latency of ERP waveforms.The paradigms employed in this thesis were chosen and designed so that in combination they provide a measure of potential cognitive modulation across the entire processing stream. That is, from early sensory ERPs, through selective attentional ERPs, including executive control ERPs and concluding at ERPs related to motor response priming. As these studies primarily focused on attentional processes, an ERP chapter towards the end of this thesis was included to identify whether any modulations in attentional ERPs were an indirect result of modulated working memory.Chapters 2 and 3 in this thesis focus on attentional control, resources, and the inhibitory processes of attention. Specifically, these chapters related to the attentional control each group employed when being presented with distracting items. Indeed, I observed modulated cognitive processes in chapter 3 related inhibitory processing in both attention and executive control related processes. In addition to this, the flanker task in Chapter 3 also allowed me to measure and modulation in motor priming between videogame players and non-videogame players.Chapters 4 and 5 looked more closely at ERPs related to selective attention such as the N2pc and P3, alongside early sensory ERPs (N1, P1, etc.). In response to observing differences in how each group processed distractors (related to the N2pc in Chapter 4), Chapter 5 employed a very specific test in order to split the N2pc into its component parts to further investigate whether any cognitive modulation between groups was a result of altered priority on processing targets or inhibiting distractors.Chapter 6 in this thesis sought to identify whether any differences observed in the attentional processing stream was actually the result of modulations in working memory, a cognitive process theoretically closely related to selective attention. Chapter 6 measured the contralateral delay activity, a neurological waveform that correlates with items held in visual working memory.Chapter 7 provided further exploratory psychophysical testing to identify whether any potential behavioural between-group differences extend beyond the usual visual field our groups would play videogames in. This involved testing the crowding phenomenon whereby participants are unable to identify a stimulus when closely flanked by distractors.This these concludes with Chapter 8, an overall discussion of each chapters results and how these theoretically synthesise with one another in relation to the two objectives of this thesis; does videogame playing modulate cognitive, and where in the attentional processing stream does this occur

Eye quietness and quiet eye in expert and novice golf performance: an electrooculographic analysis

Quiet eye (QE) is the final ocular fixation on the target of an action (e.g., the ball in golf putting). Camerabased eye-tracking studies have consistently found longer QE durations in experts than novices; however, mechanisms underlying QE are not known. To offer a new perspective we examined the feasibility of measuring the QE using electrooculography (EOG) and developed an index to assess ocular activity across time: eye quietness (EQ). Ten expert and ten novice golfers putted 60 balls to a 2.4 m distant hole. Horizontal EOG (2ms resolution) was recorded from two electrodes placed on the outer sides of the eyes. QE duration was measured using a EOG voltage threshold and comprised the sum of the pre-movement and post-movement initiation components. EQ was computed as the standard deviation of the EOG in 0.5 s bins from –4 to +2 s, relative to backswing initiation: lower values indicate less movement of the eyes, hence greater quietness. Finally, we measured club-ball address and swing durations. T-tests showed that total QE did not differ between groups (p = .31); however, experts had marginally shorter pre-movement QE (p = .08) and longer post-movement QE (p < .001) than novices. A group × time ANOVA revealed that experts had less EQ before backswing initiation and greater EQ after backswing initiation (p = .002). QE durations were inversely correlated with EQ from –1.5 to 1 s (rs = –.48 - –.90, ps = .03 - .001). Experts had longer swing durations than novices (p = .01) and, importantly, swing durations correlated positively with post-movement QE (r = .52, p = .02) and negatively with EQ from 0.5 to 1s (r = –.63, p = .003). This study demonstrates the feasibility of measuring ocular activity using EOG and validates EQ as an index of ocular activity. Its findings challenge the dominant perspective on QE and provide new evidence that expert-novice differences in ocular activity may reflect differences in the kinematics of how experts and novices execute skills

Do experts see it in slow motion? Altered timing of action simulation uncovers domain-specific perceptual processing in expert athletes

Accurate encoding of the spatio-temporal properties of others' actions is essential for the successful implementation of daily activities and, even more, for successful sportive performance, given its role in movement coordination and action anticipation. Here we investigated whether athletes are provided with special perceptual processing of spatio-temporal properties of familiar sportive actions. Basketball and volleyball players and novices were presented with short video-clips of free basketball throws that were partially occluded ahead of realization and were asked to judge whether a subsequently presented pose was either taken from the same throw depicted in the occluded video (action identification task) or temporally congruent with the expected course of the action during the occlusion period (explicit timing task). Results showed that basketball players outperformed the other groups in detecting action compatibility when the pose depicted earlier or synchronous, but not later phases of the movement as compared to the natural course of the action during occlusion. No difference was obtained for explicit estimations of timing compatibility. This leads us to argue that the timing of simulated actions in the experts might be slower than that of perceived actions ("slow-motion" bias), allowing for more detailed representation of ongoing actions and refined prediction abilities

Bodily resonance: Exploring the effects of virtual embodiment on pain modulation and the fostering of empathy toward pain sufferers

Globally, around 20% of people suffer from chronic pain, an illness that cannot be cured and has been linked to numerous physical and mental conditions. According to the BioPsychoSocial model of pain, chronic pain presents patients with biological, psychological, and social challenges and difficulties. Immersive virtual reality (VR) has shown great promise in helping people manage acute and chronic pain, and facilitating empathy of vulnerable populations. Therefore, the first research trajectory of this dissertation targets chronic pain patients’ biological and psychological sufferings to provide VR analgesia, and the second research trajectory targets healthy people to build empathy and reduce patients’ social stigma. Researchers have taken the attention distraction approach to study how acute pain patients can manage their condition in VR, while the virtual embodiment approach has mostly been studied with healthy people exposed to pain stimulus. My first research trajectory aimed to understand how embodied characteristics affect users’ sense of embodiment and pain. Three studies have been carried out with healthy people under heat pain, complex regional pain syndrome patients, and phantom limb pain patients. My findings indicate that for all three studies, when users see a healthy or intact virtual body or body parts, they experience significant reductions in their self-reported pain ratings. Additionally, I found that the appearance of a virtual body has a significant impact on pain, whereas the virtual body’s motions do not. Despite the prevalence of chronic pain, public awareness of it is remarkably low, and pain patients commonly experience social stigma. Thus, having an embodied perspective of chronic pain patients is critical to understand their social stigma. Although there is a growing interest in using embodied VR to foster empathy towards gender or racial bias, few studies have focused on people with chronic pain. My second trajectory explored how researchers can foster empathy towards pain patients in embodied VR. To conclude, this dissertation uncovers the role of VR embodiment and dissects embodied characteristics in pain modulation and empathy generation. Finally, I summarized a novel conceptual design framework for embodied VR applications with design recommendations and future research directions

Preferences, emotions, and visual attention in the first-person shooter game experience

First-person shooter (FPS) games are one of the most popular yet notorious genres of digital games. They contain visceral emotional content and require intense visual attention from players, leading some people to appreciate and others to resent these types of games. This thesis investigated individual differences in the game experience of FPS games by exploring how preferences for violent game dynamics (e.g., preferences for shooting, killing, and exploding) affect players’ emotions and perceptions of curiosity, vitality, and self-efficacy. In addition, the thesis explored how visual attention skills affect the viewing of FPS games as indexed by viewers’ eye movements. In Study I, the role of visual attention skills in viewing FPS gameplay videos was explored. The results showed that viewers’ eye movements tended to progress from a diffuse scanning mode towards a more focal and central viewing mode as time passed. Visual qualities and saliency of events also guided eye movements. Individual differences in visual attention skills (namely, the ability to track multiple objects, perform a visual search for targets, and to see rapidly appearing serial targets) were related to what was attended to in the screen. The role of visual attention skills on eye movements was more prominent during visually distinct events. In sum, the results showed that specific visual attention skills predicted eye movement patterns during FPS gameplay video viewing. Study II explored whether game dynamics preferences and emotion-related responses to an FPS game are connected. Participants’ heart rate, electrodermal activity, and electric activity of facial muscles were recorded as indexes of emotion-related responses both during playing (active participation) and gameplay video viewing (passive watching). The participants also rated their level of experienced arousal and valence. The results showed that there were individual differences in physiological emotion-related responses as a function of dynamics preferences, especially in measures of physiological arousal. Those who liked violent dynamics showed a rather stable level of physiological arousal state both when playing and when viewing the game. In contrast, participants who disliked violent dynamics showed an overall higher level of physiological arousal during playing than when viewing, and the level of arousal increased across time in both conditions. The results on facial muscle activity likewise showed that activity differed between people who liked versus disliked violent dynamics. However, the results were somewhat conflicting: those who liked violent game dynamics showed a steep increase in the activity of the corrugator supercilii muscle, an index of negative valence. Instead, those who disliked the dynamics showed less increase in corrugator supercilii activity. The dynamics preferences did not affect self-reported emotional valence or arousal. Thus, the results highlight that game dynamics preferences were associated with physiological signals, although they may not be a straightforward index of emotions in a gaming context. In Study III, associations between game dynamics preferences and self-reported experiences of vitality, self-efficacy, and curiosity were explored both in association with life in general and with playing an FPS video game. The results showed that players who were neutral or mildly positive towards violent content experienced stable levels of vitality, curiosity, and emotional valence both in life in general and when playing. They also experienced a slight decline in self-efficacy in the playing context. Conversely, those who disliked violent dynamics experienced a clear decline in all of these measures in the playing context. Thus, game dynamics preferences were connected with wider experiential reflections related to playing. Overall, the results of all three studies showed why there is individual variation in the playing experience: players and viewers have differing skills and preferences. These skills and preferences affect how players and viewers pay attention to the game, and what kind of emotional reactions and experiences they have. This is valuable for understanding the psychological outcomes of FPS games, as well as why people hold differing opinions about these types of games. Likewise, the results have importance for game design, as they show that players respond in different ways to game contents. Thus, it may be fruitful to personalize and tailor game contents based on players’ preferences and visual attention skills.Mieltymykset, tunteet ja näönvarainen tarkkaavuus ensimmäisen persoonan ammuntapelien pelikokemuksessa Ensimmäisen persoonan ammuntapelit (FPS-pelit) ovat sekä yksi suosituimmista että pahamaineisimmista digitaalisten pelien genreistä. Ne sisältävät voimakasta tunnepitoista sisältöä ja vaativat äärimmäistä näönvaraista tarkkaavuutta. Näiden seikkojen takia toiset arvostavat ja toiset paheksuvat kyseisiä pelejä. Tässä väitöskirjassa tutkittiin yksilöllisiä eroja FPS-pelien pelikokemuksessa selvittämällä, kuinka mieltymykset väkivaltaisiin pelidynamiikkoihin (esimerkiksi mieltymykset ampumiseen, tappamiseen ja räjäyttämiseen) vaikuttavat pelaajien tunnetiloihin ja kokemuksiin uteliaisuudesta, elinvoimaisuudesta ja minäpystyvyydestä. Tämän lisäksi väitöskirjassa tutkittiin silmänliikkeitä tarkastelemalla kuinka näönvaraisen tarkkaavuuden taidot ovat yhteydessä FPS-pelivideoiden katseluun. Tutkimuksessa I tarkasteltiin, miten näönvaraisen tarkkaavuuden taidot vaikuttavat FPS-pelivideoiden katseluun. Tutkimuksessa havaittiin, että silmänliikkeet etenivät laajemmasta ja hajaantuneemmasta silmäilystä kohti pinta-alaltaan pienempää ja lähempänä näytön keskustaa olevaa aluetta. Lisäksi erilaisten pelitapahtumien visuaaliset ominaisuudet ja huomiota herättävyys suuntasivat silmänliikkeitä. Yksilölliset erot näönvaraisen tarkkaavuuden taidoissa (tässä tutkimuksessa taidot seurata useita liikkuvia kohteita, etsiä kohteita ja nähdä nopeasti peräkkäin ilmestyviä kohteita) olivat yhteydessä siihen, miten katselija tarkasteli pelinäkymää. Näönvaraisen tarkkaavuuden taitojen yhteys silmänliikkeisiin tuli esiin etenkin visuaalisesti toisistaan erottuvien pelitapahtumien aikana. Yhteenvetona tutkimuksen tulokset osoittivat, että tietyt näönvaraisen tarkkaavuuden taidot ennustavat silmänliikkeitä FPS-pelivideon katselun aikana. Tutkimuksessa II selvitettiin, ovatko pelidynamiikkamieltymykset ja FPS-peliin liittyvät tunnereaktiot yhteydessä toisiinsa. Tutkimukseen osallistujien sykettä, ihon sähkönjohtavuutta ja kasvolihasten sähköistä aktiivisuutta mitattiin indikaatioina tunnereaktioista sekä pelaamisen (aktiivinen osallistuminen) että pelivideon katselun (passiivinen tarkkailu) aikana. Osallistujat myös arvioivat oman tunnetilansa koettua virittävyyttä ja valenssia. Tulokset osoittivat, että yksilöiden välillä oli eroja fysiologisissa tunteisiin liittyvissä reaktioissa riippuen siitä, millaiset pelidynamiikkamieltymykset heillä oli. Tämä näkyi erityisesti fysiologisissa autonomisen hermoston tilaa kuvaavissa mittareissa. Väkivaltaisista dynamiikoista pitävillä osallistujilla oli suhteellisen tasainen fysiologisen aktivaation taso sekä pelatessa että pelivideota katsellessa. Sen sijaan niillä osallistujilla jotka eivät pitäneet väkivaltaisista dynamiikoista oli kaiken kaikkiaan korkeampi fysiologisen aktivaation taso pelatessa kuin pelivideota katsellessa, ja aktivaation taso kasvoi ajan kuluessa molemmissa tilanteissa. Kasvojen lihasten sähköiseen toimintaan liittyvät tulokset niin ikään osoittivat, että väkivaltaisista dynamiikoista pitävien ja niitä vieroksuvien henkilöiden välillä oli eroja. Tulokset olivat kuitenkin jossain määrin ristiriitaisia: väkivaltaisista dynamiikoista pitävillä osallistujilla negatiivista valenssia indikoiva corrugator supercilii -lihaksen aktiivisuus lisääntyi ajan kuluessa huomattavasti. Sen sijaan osallistujilla jotka eivät pitäneet väkivaltaisista dynamiikoista corrugator supercilii -lihaksen aktiivisuuden lisääntyminen oli lievempää. Pelidynamiikkamieltymykset eivät olleet yhteydessä osallistujien omiin arvioihin tunnekokemuksen virittävyydestä ja valenssista. Täten tulokset osoittivat, että pelidynamiikkamieltymykset olivat yhteydessä fysiologisiin vasteisiin, mutta niitä ei voida käyttää täysin mutkattomina mittareina tunteista pelikontekstissa. Tutkimuksessa III tarkasteltiin pelidynamiikkamieltymysten yhteyttä uteliaisuuden, elinvoimaisuuden ja minäpystyvyyden kokemuksiin elämässä ylipäätään ja FPS-pelin pelaamiseen liittyen. Tutkimuksessa havaittiin, että uteliaisuus, elinvoimaisuus ja tunteen valenssi olivat samankaltaiset sekä elämässä ylipäätään että pelatessa mikäli pelaaja suhtautui väkivaltaisiin dynamiikkoihin neutraalisti tai jonkin verran positiivisesti. Tällaisilla pelaajilla minäpystyvyys oli kuitenkin jonkin verran alhaisempi pelitilanteessa verrattuna elämään ylipäätään. Sen sijaan pelaajat jotka eivät pitäneet väkivaltaisista dynamiikoista arvioivat kaikkien näiden kokemusten olevan selvästi huonompia pelatessa. Pelidynamiikkamieltymykset olivat siis yhteydessä laajempiin reflektiivisiin kokemuksiin pelaamisesta. Väitöstutkimuksen tulokset auttavat ymmärtämään, miksi pelikokemuksessa on yksilöllistä vaihtelua: pelaajat ja katsojat eroavat taidoiltaan ja mieltymyksiltään. Nämä taidot ja mieltymykset ovat yhteydessä siihen, millä tavoin pelaajat ja katselijat kiinnittävät huomiota peliin ja minkälaisia tunnereaktioita ja kokemuksia heillä on. Näiden seikkojen huomioiminen on tärkeää FPS-pelien psykologisten vaikutusten ja peleihin liittyvien eriävien mielipiteiden ymmärtämiseksi. Tuloksilla on lisäksi merkitystä pelisuunnittelulle, sillä ne osoittavat, että pelaajat reagoivat eri tavoin pelisisältöihin. Tämän vuoksi voisi olla hyödyllistä muovata pelisisältöjä yksilöllisesti pelaajien mieltymysten ja näönvaraisen tarkkaavuuden taitojen mukaan

EEG coherence between the verbal-analytical region (T3) and the motor-planning region (Fz) increases under stress in explicit motor learners but not implicit motor learners

This journal supplement contains abstracts of NASPSPA 2010Free Communications - Verbal and Poster: Motor Learning and Controlpublished_or_final_versionThe Annual Conference of the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA 2010), Tucson, AZ., 10-12 June 2010. In Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 2010, v. 32 suppl., p. S13

Attention and time constraints in performing and learning a table tennis forehand shot

This is a section on p. S95 of article 'Verbal and Poster: Motor Development, Motor Learning and Control, and Sport and Exercise Psychology' in Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 2010, v.32, p.S36-S237published_or_final_versio