Is there anything science can tell us about taking a penalty kick? The goal in soccer is a lot bigger than the goalkeeper, so it should be easy to score, but so many penalty-takers don鈥檛. Is there a well-founded, foolproof way of taking fear, emotion and human error out of the equation and guaranteeing a goal?
鈥� The Italian soccer team attributes part of its success in winning the World Cup in 2006 to the neurofeedback training team members had received.
Neurofeedback is a form of 鈥� the process of becoming aware of bodily processes which normally occur unconsciously 鈥� and operant conditioning. By using electroencephalography to provide a flow of information to a person from their ongoing brain activity, enduring changes can be made in the person鈥檚 brain-wave activity and accompanying behaviours.
Advertisement
As a very safe alternative to medication, neurofeedback is used to treat attention-deficit disorder, epilepsy, brain injury and many other conditions. It is also a form of peak-performance training that has been used for a variety of tasks requiring calmness and focus under stress, such as stock-market trading, music performance and competing in many sports.
It鈥檚 a relatively new field: the winter Olympics in 2010 in Vancouver, Canada, saw it used more widely than ever.
Laurence Lewis, New York City, US