The relationship between T7-Fz alpha coherence and peak performance in self-paced sports: a meta-analytical review.

We examined whether the alpha-band coherence between the T7-Fz (verbal analytical-motor planning) brain areas were related to superior performance in sports. We searched for related papers across eight databases: ProQuest Central, ProQuest Psychology Journals, PsycARTICLES, PsycINFO, SPORTDiscus, MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science using relevant keywords (i.e., EEG AND sports AND coherence). Seven studies, with a total of 194 participants, met our inclusion criteria and were shortlisted for statistical analysis. We compared EEG coherence data for both within-subject and between-subject experimental designs. Our analysis revealed that athletes had lower coherence in the T7-Fz brain pathway for alpha- band activation (Hedges' g = - 0.54; p = 0.03) when performing better. Theoretically, these results corroborate the notion that athletes become more "neurally efficient" as the verbal and motor areas of their brains function more independently, i.e., the neural efficiency hypothesis. Accordingly, athletes who can limit verbal interference are more likely to perform a sporting task successfully.

Self-efficacy assessment hinders improvement on a deliberate cricket bowling practice task.

Introduction: Previous research indicates that external focused attention is linked to superior performance on motor tasks. This study examined how attention directed toward one's self-efficacy affected performance in a cricket bowling task. Methods: In the pre-test phase, participants attempted to bowl in a designated "good length" zone across 12 trials. Following this, participants were randomly assigned to either an experimental group, where they rated their own general and task-specific self-efficacy, or a control group, where they rated someone else's ability. They each then bowled 12 more trials. Their performance was measured based on the number of trials that were bowled within the standard "good length" zone. Results: Paired t-tests showed that while the performance of the control group improved significantly from pre-test to post-test, t = 2.613, p = 0.008; the experimental group did not show a significant improvement, t = 1.156, p = 0.131. Discussion: Results indicate that asking people to rate their self-efficacy level may reduce their improvement on a deliberate practice task. Implications for sport performance and researchers are discussed.