New research has proven that "experienced soccer players have impressive brain functioning and executive-level cognitive skills." Researches at a London university are currently trying to find what makes one soccer player better than another. They started by placing 39 players of different skill and experience in an FMRI scanner. (functional magnetic resonance imaging) The machines had video monitors embedded in them to show video clips of a soccer player dribbling a ball at the person whose brain was being scanned at the time.
The study revealed that soccer players with more experience and skill were more accurate at predicting the on-screen player's move. Noting that: "the better players showed more activity in the areas of the brain associated with high-level executive functioning and eye-muscle coordination than did the brains of less-experienced players."
Pro athletes process complex visual scenes faster than amateurs.
Daniel Bishop, author of the study done predicts: "we believe this greater level or neural activity is something that can be developed through high-quality training, so the next step will be to look at how the brain can be trained over time to anticipate the moves of opponents."
http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/stories/pro-soccer-players-have-sharper-mental-skills-than-most
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