Neuro-Psychology: The future of Sport Psychology?
We have all heard of “wearables”, and perhaps you just had a glance at your Fit Bit or Smart Watch to see how one of your daily fitness parameters (number of steps, current heart rate, etc) is progressing. The developments in these kinds of technologies is quite amazing, considering that it was only a short few years ago when you would have to be on a treadmill in a laboratory to get access to some of those numbers.
There is a line that we have used in our National Golf programs for a number of years that can be attributed to our inaugural AIS Head Coach Ross Herbert: “I don’t want to know how good you think you are, I want to know how good you really are. What do the number say?” Unfortunately Ross is no longer with us, but his question remains the central driver of all the assessment, monitoring, and personal plan development work in Australian Golf. Ross was referring not only to skill work, but also to some of the physical parameters that make up an elite player.
In Softball NSW, our HP coaches have agreed to utilise the fitness testing protocols that have been put together for the National Teams program. These testing protocols will be used from introductory level training camps through selection procedures through National Team monitoring, and so we believe that our players should be introduced to them through our state system.
The Golf system goes further and has a series of skill assessments that make up our “National Skills Test”. The HP coaches in NSW are also committed to putting together a similar skills test that can be used around NSW and most probably adopted nation wide.
The interesting question is “what skills can we measure reliably enough to make them a part of a skills test?” Golf uses an Aussie Rules target to look at percentages of shots that can be played into specific size targets. We will discuss some of the potential areas that Softball can bring together over future articles in this newsletter.
Would measuring your concentration skills be one of the first areas that you would put on the list for the SNSW Skills Test? I suspect your answer is no because you are asking the question “how do we measure concentration?”
We certainly know when it is not working as the question “whatever were you thinking then?” usually floats after a switch off on base or in the batter’s box.
It may surprise you that concentration levels can be measured quite reliably, and you might guess that we are talking about it in a discussion about wearables that there are some new ways to get some feedback about how well your brain is working at present.
Neuro-psychology refers to a science made possible by technology advances that looks to understand how behaviour and thinking processes are influenced by brain functioning. The technology that is being applied is usually looking at the diagnosis and treatment of brain disorders, such as an acquired brain injury from a car accident.
Psychology continues to develop with these kinds of researchers and applications of technology. There is a big movement called “positive psychology” that has gained a lot of interest and support recently. Positive psychology is much more than just the old “come on, you can do it!” type of comments that people confuse with motivation. Positive psychology says that for years we have only treated disorders, or people who don’t feel themselves at present, but why aren’t we doing things for “normal people” to help them enjoy their life more, and to get more out of their efforts at work or play.
Add these up, and you will see that the wearables being used in neuro-psychology are now being applied to teach and train people to concentrate better. What cost tens of thousands of dollars just 5 years ago can now be purchased for less than $150.
Again, we will discuss more of these devices and their accompanying training protocols over future issues of this newsletter, but for now, let’s have a look at a system that the SNSW U17 Women’s team used a couple of weeks ago. It is called MindFlex Duel.
MindFlex Duel is a toy (!) that was released by Mattell a few Christmases ago. It is a joint venture between Mattell and NeuroSky, a group based in Southern California that has dedicated itself to developing accessible and easily usable applications of micro-technology that can measure a range of bodily systems such as brain activity, heart function, etc. The “accessible” comment refers to miniaturization and functionality. MindFlex Duel originally sold for US$80, but unfortunately it is now a collectors item, fetching 3-4 time sthat amount on EBay.
We used it with the U17s to introduce the idea of controlling the direction, intensity and duration of concentration. There are about 8 different games that can be played with the unit, some individual, some competitive and some requiring co-operation and co-ordination between 2 players.
When someone is wearing the headset and begins to focus their attention on the playdeck, a bluetooth signal is sent from the headset that is amplified by the unit which switched on then increases the speed of a fan that floats a little nerf ball into the air. Hang on, did you pick that one up, or do we need to pick you up. First reactions range from total scepticism to total wonder, but it is quite legit. Your cognitive activity (thought levels) create a micro-voltage in a range of frequencies that can be picked up by the unit and amplified to create a signal that can provide feedback on how strong your focus is.
We got the players to try out the “virtual arm wrestle” option, where their concentration intensity levels were compared by the unit. When 2 players are competing, if one is at 60% focus intensity, and the other is at 75%, the ball will float and slide towards the lower scorer. What follows ranges from a fight back to a complete loss of focus. We have seen 6 and 7 minute battles that require players to not only control their intensity but also the “endurance” of their focus. View this as a form of “overload training” (as a pitch / play only takes a few seconds to execute).
Interested? CLICK HERE to watch what happened when 2 of our “better thinkers” took on the challenge. Let’s see whether your coaches’ brain has started to identify some of the kinds of drills that become possible once you can measure a performance parameter.
In the next article I will give you some insights into how we can use this kind of technology in Softball, and what kind of strategies the players were learning to use.
For those interested to do some additional reading, can I suggest that you have a look at:
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=neuro-psychology&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
https://store.neurosky.com/products/mindflex-duel
(it looks like there may have been a re-release to Amazon)
This is a big area, and it is worth a few more conversations. It certainly has changed our ability to ask the question “what do the numbers say?”
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