Thermal grill illusion on the basis of tri-allelic 5-HTTLPR genotype and gender.

<p>Based on our expectations of gender differences, the genotype groups were further divided into females (panel A) and males (panel B). Females differed significantly in ratings of unpleasantness for the thermal grill, *  =  significant at p<0.05.</p

In Design Fluency (DF) the High Division (HD) players had significantly better scores than the Low Division players (LD).

<p>This difference was observed for both men and women. Note that both HD and LD players have superior scores compared with the standard population.</p

Thermal pain thresholds.

<p>A) Heat-pain thresholds. The difference between average heat-pain threshold for the high- versus the low 5-HTT-expressing groups was significant [U = 155.0, z = −2.03, p = 0.02, one-tailed test]. B) Cold-pain thresholds. The difference between average cold-pain threshold for the high versus the low 5-HTT-expressing groups was significant [U = 162.0, z = −1.91, p = 0.03, one-tailed test].</p

Contingency table for heat-pain thresholds.

<p>Number of subjects above or below median temperature for heat-pain threshold.</p

The thermal grill.

<p>The thermal grill consisted of 8 individual silver plates housed in a PVC unit. The subjects placed their ventral forearm against the grill's surface, orthogonally to the long axis of the silver plates. Temperatures of odd and even numbered plates were set to 41.0°C–42.0°C and/or 15.0°C–16.0°C.</p

Contingency table for perception of the thermal grill illusion (TGI).

<p>VAS-ratings of the sensory-discriminatory dimension (pain intensity) and the affective-motivational dimension (unpleasantness) were used in this tentative dichotomization of subjects. See section ‘TGI-response, sensory vs affective ratings’ for the criteria used.</p

Validation of the thermal grill illusion for affective and sensory dimensions, all subjects.

<p>The thermal grill illusion was tested along with its constituent temperatures, in a randomized and counterbalanced order. Subjects provided VAS-ratings of both the affective-motivational (i.e. unpleasantness, see panel A) and sensory-discriminatory (i.e. pain, see panel B) dimensions for each condition. Validation of the thermal grill illusion, for all subjects: ***  =  significant at p<0.001, **  =  significant at p<0.01, ns  =  not significant.</p

Core executive functions are associated with success in young elite soccer players

<div><p>Physical capacity and coordination cannot alone predict success in team sports such as soccer. Instead, more focus has been directed towards the importance of cognitive abilities, and it has been suggested that executive functions (EF) are fundamentally important for success in soccer. However, executive functions are going through a steep development from adolescence to adulthood. Moreover, more complex EF involving manipulation of information (higher level EF) develop later than simple executive functions such as those linked to simple working memory capacity (Core EF). The link between EF and success in young soccer players is therefore not obvious. In the present study we investigated whether EF are associated with success in soccer in young elite soccer players. We performed tests measuring core EF (a demanding working memory task involving a variable n-back task; dWM) and higher level EF (Design Fluency test; DF). Color-Word Interference Test and Trail Making Test were performed on an exploratory level as they contain a linguistic element. The lower level EF test (dWM) was taken from CogStateSport computerized concussion testing and the higher level EF test (DF) was from Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System test battery (D-KEFS). In a group of young elite soccer players (n = 30; aged 12–19 years) we show that they perform better than the norm in both the dWM (+0.49 SD) and DF (+0.86 SD). Moreover, we could show that both dWM and DF correlate with the number of goals the players perform during the season. The effect was more prominent for dWM (<i>r</i> = 0.437) than for DF (<i>r</i> = 0.349), but strongest for a combined measurement (<i>r</i> = 0.550). The effect was still present when we controlled for intelligence, length and age in a partial correlation analysis. Thus, our study suggests that both core and higher level EF may predict success in soccer also in young players.</p></div

Maximum Intensity Projections (MIP) of fMRI data for subject 1 to 17 in the listening paradigm at p<0.001 uncorrected.

<p>Spatial orientation of all projections is shown on the top row (P = posterior, A = anterior, L = left, R = right).</p

Representation of the subjects' pain ratings over the five different time points (T).

<p>Pain was rated using the visual analogue scale (VAS) ranging from “no pain” (0 mm VAS) up to “worst possible pain” (100 mm VAS). Identical pain stimulation was given at all five timepoints. Prior to T2 there was an intravenous injection of Remifentanil and prior to T4 there was an intravenous injection of saline (placebo). All pain ratings represented in this figure are individually normalized to baseline (T1).</p