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In the competitive sports realm, the ability to react quickly is paramount. In fact, a sudden delay in reaction time can make a difference between whether you win or lose. As a result, athletes are required to respond to situations quickly and effectively to make the right decisions and initiation actions. Reacting faster than an opponent can also increase your odds of defeating them. But, what sports require the quickest reaction time? Are there certain sports where fast responses are more important than others? Yes! Here are 5 sports that definitely require high reaction speeds:

1. Hockey

In hockey, a major challenge is that players need to control and follow a puck that moves at incredible speeds. A hockey goalie, however, has arguably one of the most difficult jobs in the sports world. For instance, a goalie has to stop a frozen, six-ounce puck traveling directly towards him or her, at an excess of 100 mph, all while wearing 50 pounds of equipment.

2. Soccer

When you’re trying to determine opportunities and threats on the field, you have to react within a split second. Soccer players have to avoid collisions and dodge some players that run over 20mph! Similarly, a goalie usually has only 0.3 seconds to react to a penalty kick. It’s evident that to stay a step ahead of the competition, you have to be able to process visual information more quickly to make faster plays.

3. Boxing

Anyone who has put on boxing gloves can attest to the difficulty and stamina it takes to box. Boxers have to anticipate and react to their opponent’s efforts, all while punching with all-out power and speed, and overcoming fear. Simply imagine a three-minute round where someone is trying to punch you at full force, while you’re trying to do the same.

4. Motor Sports

When drivers are traveling around 200 mph, reaction time becomes quite critical to their safety. Drivers have to know where and when it’s important to go fast and when to go slow, which requires car control, balance, patience and situational awareness. There’s no time to calculate whether to go for it or hold back, so a driver has to have a heightened sense of risk and return.

5. Racket Sports

Tennis, badminton, table tennis and squash all require swift reflexes. If a player is indecisive about how to handle an oncoming serve, he or she could miss the ball or birdie completely. In tennis, the average serve can travel over 120 mph and in table tennis up to 90mph, while in badminton you’re dealing with speeds over 300 mph over a very short distance. Consequently, you need to consistently react in a fraction of a second throughout the game. It’s also imperative that players are able to anticipate their opponent’s next move, requiring their mind and body to function independently, yet cohesively.

Cognitive Training

There are multiple factors that determine an athlete’s reaction speed time. Some of these include an athlete’s size (weight and height), age, training, sex, and cognitive abilities. All of these factors will play a critical role in how quickly an athlete is able to react in a certain situation.

That being said, cognitive training can help athletes enhance their cognitive abilities that are critical to reaction speed. Training the mind is important to process visual information more quickly, read body movements more effectively and maintain focus for longer periods of time. With enhanced visual processing abilities, athletes may be able to react more quickly in crucial situations and gain a competitive edge.

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If you’ve ever sustained a concussion or head injury, you know how debilitating it can be. Even if you haven’t, you’ve probably heard of some symptoms that accompany a concussion: headaches, rage, an inability to concentrate and balance problems.

Sustaining one concussion is detrimental enough, but multiple studies show that sustaining two can be catastrophic. Unfortunately, head impacts in contact sports are quite frequent and the health implications of these consequences may be significant. Here are 5 possible long-term risks of repetitive head impacts and multiple concussions:

1. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)

CTE is a degenerative brain disease found in athletes, military veterans and others with a history of repetitive brain trauma. In CTE, a protein called Tau forms clumps that slowly spread throughout the brain, killing the brain cells. Clinical symptoms of CTE include the progressive decline of memory and cognition, depression, suicidal behaviour, poor impulse control, aggressiveness, Parkinsonism and dementia.

The term first emerged in two case reports that involved two National Football League (NFL) players. These players suffered from a wide range of neuropsychological disorders after long careers playing football in high school, college and professionally.

Evidence suggests that CTE is caused by repetitive hits to the head sustained over a period of years. It’s important to note that you don’t have to suffer from a full-blown concussion to get this disease. In fact, evidence points to subconcussive impacts, or repetitive hits to the head as the biggest factor!

2. Depression

Depression is a mental disorder that affects how someone feels, thinks and acts. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems that can decrease a person’s ability to function at work and at home. Symptoms can include a loss of interest in activities once enjoyed, changes in appetite, sleeping issues and even thoughts of death or suicide.

Surveys of retired professional athletes provide some evidence that a history of multiple concussions increases the risk for depression. The researchers found an increasing linear relationship between history of concussion and diagnosis of lifetime depression. Compared with retired players with no history of concussion, retired players who had 3 or more concussions were 3 times more likely to have been diagnosed with depression. Those with a history of one or two previous concussions were 1.5 times more likely to have been diagnosed with depression.

While imaging research is beginning to explore the relationship between depression symptoms and brain white abnormalities in retired athletes, more studies need to be conducted.

3. Dementia Pugilistica

Also known as “punch-drunk syndrome,” dementia pugilistica is a neurodegenerative disease found in people who have suffered multiple concussions. The term derives from the word “pugil,” which means boxer or fighter in Latin, as it was first discovered among boxers in the 1920s. People who suffer from this condition commonly experience tremors, slowed movement, speech problems, confusion, a lack of coordination and memory problems.

Dementia pugilistica is a variant of CTE, and it also shares some histological features of Alzheimer’s disease at the microscopic level. While it has been identified primarily in boxers who experienced repeat impacts to the head, other athletes may also suffer from this condition. In fact, it’s possible that available data on neurodegenerative features in boxers may provide insights for understanding less severe head injuries.

4. Neurocognitive Impairments

The signs and symptoms of a concussion can often affect one’s cognitive abilities, resulting in an inability to concentrate, confusion, irritability and loss of balance. When you suffer more than one traumatic brain injury over the course of your life, you may be at greater risk of developing lasting, possibly progressive, impairment that limits function.

Studies suggest that football players and hockey players experienced changes in cognitive function in the brain following repetitive head impacts. In one study, researchers found that the affected athletes exhibited neurocognitive deficits in both working and visual memory. In another study, affected football players experienced impulse control and balance problems post-season. Similarly, studies with boxers suggested that athletes with high exposure to head contact had lower cognitive function than those that with low head contact exposure. In addition, other studies suggested that repetitive head impacts in boxing is associated with long-term cognitive decline.

5. Slower Neurological Recovery

Every year, millions of people sustain concussions, but the risks of a prolonged recovery after repeat concussions still remains new territory. Nevertheless, a study suggests that history of multiple concussions may be associated with a slower recovery of neurological function after another concussion. It also suggests that repeat concussions may result in permanent neurocognitive impairment. That’s why it’s utterly important to never return to sports or dangerous activities until you have fully healed.

But, how do optimize recovery? For some neurologists and neuro-optometrists, it involves using NeuroTracker, a perceptual-cognitive training tool. It should be noted, however, that NeuroTracker is only one tool that is used to evaluate an individual’s recovery. Moving forward, it will be beneficial to investigate innovative technologies that could be used to help prevent head injuries. After all, it’s easier to prevent an injury in most cases than repair it after it has happened.

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Are you an avid gamer? If so, you’re not alone. In fact, these days it’s difficult finding someone who doesn’t play video games. Whether it’s during your lunch break or morning commute, it’s common to see individuals playing games on their smartphones.

Our increased exposure to gamified applications and new gaming habits are mainly due to the release of digital devices in recent years. With all this exposure, however, neurologists and psychologists are asking themselves: How do games affect our brains? Do they impact our overall behavior? Here are three ways that video games impact our brains:

1. Attention

According to multiple studies, playing video games affects our attention. Gamer display, for example, enhanced performance in a range of top-down attentional control areas. These include selective, divided and sustained attention. Evidence shows that video game players are more efficient than non-players at maintaining laser focus during attentional demanding tasks.

In addition, gamers who have played action video games throughout their lifetime have superior decision-making skills that pertain to spatial selective attention. That being said, not all video games are created equal. Results reveal that action video games are better at improving selective attention than other slow-paced video games such as role-playing games or strategy games which require high planning skills.

2. Visuospatial Skills

Our visuospatial skills enable us to process and interpret visual information from our environment and the objects found within it. They are fundamental in helping us orient ourselves within a given space, accurately reach for objects in our visual field and shift our gaze to different focal points.

Some studies found that logic/puzzle and platform video games can increase the size and efficiency of brain regions related to visuospatial skills. For instance, the right hippocampus was enlarged in these long-term gamers.

On the other hand, action video games like Call of Duty and Super Mario were shown to negatively affect the hippocampus in gamers. The problem is that these players use the caudate nucleus, located in the striatum, to navigate through the game, which counterbalances the hippocampus. The more they use the caudate nucleus, the less they use the hippocampus, and as a result the hippocampus loses cells and atrophies.

Shaped like a seahorse, the hippocampus is the part of the brain that helps people orient themselves and remember past experiences. In general, more grey matter in the hippocampus means a healthier brain. The more depleted a hippocampus becomes, the more a person is at risk of developing brain illnesses and diseases such as schizophrenia, PTSD and Alzheimer’s. Consequently, it may be wise to exert caution when encouraging children, young adults and older adults to play action video games to improve their cognitive skills.

3. Cognitive Control

Different video game genres seem to affect which cognitive skills will be trained. During the course of a video game, a player may need to interrupt his or her strategy and implement a new one. He or she may also be forced to manipulate elements in a certain way to solve a puzzle and progress in the storyline. All these abilities can be characterized under the “umbrella” of cognitive control, which includes reactive and proactive inhibition, task switching, and working memory.

Nevertheless, transfer is a complicated issue when it comes to video game training programs. In general, transfer refers to a task’s ability to lead to improvement in other skills that are different from the task at hand. An example of near transfer would be learning how to drive a car, which then translates to knowing how to drive a bus. Far transfer involves a transfer of abilities that are completely unrelated to the task itself, e.g. learning how to play chess and then witnessing improvements in mathematical reasoning abilities.

While certain gaming studies showed structural and functional changes in the brain after playing games that involve our executive functions, they showed poor transfer effects when measured by other cognitive tasks. Even after 50 hours of training, researchers were unable to observe far transfer effects among participants.

On the other hand, another study showed that training older adults in strategy-oriented video games improved their verbal memory span. These games, however, did not improve their problem solving abilities or working memory.

Cognitive Training Program

It appears that much remains to be discovered when it comes to transfer and video games. Training periods found in scientific literature vary greatly and it’s difficult to determine if a lack of transferred skills is due to simple inefficacy or a short training period.

NeuroTracker, though not a video game, has been successful in demonstrating training transfer and efficacy. For instance, even with minimal training a lot of users experienced mental improvements within just 1.5 to 3 hours’ worth of training. In addition, certain individuals witnessed mental improvements in not only their training program but also non-related tasks e.g. passing accuracy in competitive play. With its gamified system and 3D glasses, NeuroTracker may seem like a video game. Positive results from multiple studies, however, suggest that it’s so much more!

As cities grow increasingly more diverse due to globalization and immigration, it’s becoming harder to find people who speak just one language. In fact, it’s estimated that at least half of the world’s population speak at least two languages. Some even believe that the estimate is much higher, varying from 60 to 75%.

Speaking more than one language is beneficial for obvious reasons: you can get a leg up in the job market, connect with new people, and travel abroad more easily. But, did you know that being bilingual benefits your brain too? In fact, bilinguals may even have superior brain functions compared to monolinguals.

The Bilingualism Advantage

According to research, bilingual people have enhanced abilities when it comes to filtering out important information among unimportant material. Also known as the “bilingualism advantage,” it stems from their ability to process language. This was observed in a past study where bilingual children were better able to ignore classroom noise and distractions than monolingual children.

Bilingual people are also more efficient at higher-level brain functions such as ignoring other irrelevant information. For instance, people who are bilingual are constantly activating both languages in their brain, choosing which to use and which to ignore. The task of filtering information activates different brain areas in bilinguals versus monolinguals.

Differences in Brain Activity

In a study conducted at the University of Houston, participants were shown a picture of an object, as well as an object with a similar-sounding name, and two unrelated objects. For example, they might hear the word “cloud,” and then see pictures of a cloud, clown and two other things. The participants had to pick up the picture that showed the word they heard.

What is remarkable is that the brain activity was markedly different between the bilinguals and monolinguals, as revealed by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans. The brains of the people who spoke only one language lit up much more, in regions of the brain controlling higher-level functions. Their brains had to work much harder to perform the task.

The results are not too surprising given that bilinguals experience competition between both of their languages while listening to speech on a daily basis. They are mentally stronger because they’ve been working out like this for years.

Enhanced Cognitive Control

Bilingual people are also thought to have superior cognitive control, which is also known as executive control. Cognitive control is our ability to control our thoughts, inhibit automatic responses and influence working memory. It supports flexible and adaptive responses to achieve certain goals. For instance, your exam may be draining, but your cognitive control is what allows you give an extra push to answer all the questions.

Many studies find that it is one of the most important pieces of cognitive function. Some disorders, such as schizophrenia and ADHD, are associated with impairments of executive control. People with good cognitive control are found to be more successful at school, at finding jobs and are healthier. So, want to make your brain more robust? It may be time to consider learning a new language!

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In the past decade, we’ve seen a lot of 3D trends come and go. Tech giants, for instance, introduced 3D TVs in 2010, but they were never universally embraced. Similarly, movie studios began releasing more 3D movies following the success of Avatar in 2009, but even their popularity waned.

Given that we live in a three-dimensional world, it was logical for companies to offer customers a more realistic and immersive viewing experience. But, did you know that everything we see is first recorded in our retinas in 2D?

Experiencing 3D Images

Researchers at The Ohio State University, recently conducted a study to investigate how the brain represents 3D information. In other words, they determined how different parts of the brain represent an object’s location in depth compared to its 2D location.

In the experiment, the participants viewed simple images with 3D glasses while they were in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner. They were asked to focus on a dot in the middle of the screen.

As they watched the dot, objects would appear in different peripheral locations: to the left, right, top, or bottom of the dot (horizontal and vertical dimensions). In addition, each object would also appear to be at a different depth relative to the dot: behind or in front (which was visible to the participants).

The fMRI was useful to show what was happening in the participants’ brains while they looked at three-dimensional images. Furthermore, the scientists could compare how activity patterns in the visual cortex differed when participants saw objects in different locations.

Processing the Image in Depth

The findings showed that as the image first enters our visual cortex, the brain mostly codes the two dimensional location. As the processing continues, however, the emphasis shifts to decoding the depth information as well. Julie Golomb, the senior author of the study, explained that it’s as if the representations are gradually being inflated from flat to 3D.

The results surprised Golomb and her team because a lot of people assume that depth information is found in the early visual areas as opposed to the later areas of the visual cortex. In addition, even though there might be individual neurons that have some depth information, they don’t seem to be organized into any pattern or map for 3D space perception.

The study is an important step towards understanding how we perceive our rich, three-dimensional environment. Scientists have already discovered that watching and playing games in 3D can stimulate your brain better than 2D versions. Perhaps this is due to the brain needing to further process and decode in depth the stimuli you are being presented.

Stimulating the Brain with 3D

Researchers from Goldsmiths, University of London found that watching 3D, produced on average a 23% increase in cognitive processing and an 11% boost in reaction times. The improvements in brain function were measured after the test subjects had finished watching 3D, not while they were watching it.

These results are a stark contrast from the ones in 2D, where there was only an 11% rise in cognitive processing and a 2% increase in reaction times. So, while the benefits of 3D are still being explored, both studies suggest that watching or playing a game in 3D could add extra value to your brain.

Paying close attention to something is not always easy. In fact, it was reported that even goldfish have longer attention spans than we do. It’s evident that our brain can only take so much focus and our attention is constantly being pulled in different directions.

Tristan Harris, a former Google Product Manager, even admitted that phone and social media apps are engineered with the primary purpose of grabbing our attention. You may be surprised to know though that attention involves a lot more than simply what we’re focusing on. It also involves what information our brain is trying to filter out. At a fundamental level, it’s a selection process.

Directing Attention

There are two ways we direct our attention. First, there’s overt attention where you move your eyes towards something in order to pay attention to it. Then, there’s covert attention where you pay attention to something, but without moving your eyes.

Your overt attention is in front of you because it relates to the direction of your eyes. In contrast, covert attention is where you’re not directly looking. It’s what is always scanning your surrounding area.

Shifting Our Focus

As a cognitive function, attention is particularly interesting because we can shift our focus not only by our eyes, but also by thinking. This particular quality is what fostered curiosity in Mehdi Ordikhani-Seyedlar, a computational neuroscientist, who works on cognitive brain-machine interfaces.

Ordikhani-Seyedlar studies brain patterns so that he can build models for computers, which can then recognize how well our brain functions. Consequently, if our brain doesn’t function well, then the computers can be used as assistive devices for therapy.

Determining Brainwave Patterns

Ordikhani-Seyedlar set up an experiment to determine our brainwave patterns when we look overtly and covertly. By analyzing their brain signals, he was able to track where exactly the participants were looking and what they were paying attention to.

What was interesting is that when they paid covert attention, parts of the frontal area of the brain were activated. Previous studies have shown that areas of the brain activated by covert and overt shifts of attention are very similar – signals coming from the back of the head. Ordikhani-Seyedlar’s study, however, exemplifies that these types of attention may need closer inspection.

Inhibiting Distractors

As a human, the front part of your brain is responsible for higher cognitive functions. It appears that the front part acts as a filter which lets the information you are paying attention to enter, while inhibiting the information coming from ignored stimuli.

The filtering ability of the brain is key for attention, which is missing in certain people, such as those with ADHD. An individual with ADHD, for instance, cannot inhibit these distractors which explains why they are unable to focus for a long time on a single task.

Technology to Improve Attention

NeuroTracker helps to train the brain by maximizing overt attention while inhibiting distractors. In a NeuroTracker training session, users put on 3D glasses and are asked to track multiple objects simultaneously moving around their screen. Its 3D multiple object tracking (MOT) task taps into four main properties of attention: sustained, distributed, selective and dynamic.

NeuroTracker for ADHD

In an experiment conducted on students with learning disabilities, NeuroTracker showed that it was able to improve attention within a period of five weeks. A team at the Perceptual Neuroscience Laboratory for Autism and Development at McGill University conducted the experiment. The researchers wanted to explore if the MOT task could help students:

• Selectively focus and direct attention to relevant information
• Ignore distracting events
• Distribute attention among multiple stimuli
• Sustain this level of focus for a period of time

The experiment’s promising results reinforce the fact that NeuroTracker is not simply a visual training exercise. As a technology that trains covert, as well as overt attention, it represents an innovative cognitive approach in neuroscience. NeuroTracker presents a lot of potential in understanding how our brain operates and further enhancing our higher cognitive functions.

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By Josh Freedland

When it comes to enhancing athletic performance, cognitive training is still a fairly new concept. Perceptions of what is meant by athletics performance training, however, are changing. This is especially true in elite sports. Nevertheless, not all athletes are integrating cognitive training into their training regimens, in part due to the current athletic training culture and the overall perception of training the brain.

Challenging an Established Culture

As witnessed in most industries, there is a culture that is firmly embedded in athletics training. Occasionally, a new trend will come along and challenge common practices, but there will be a lot of inertia and resistance to change. After all, there has been a set way of doing things for decades, and a culture cannot simply change overnight. A culture, however, can change over time. In fact, this change has occurred before in the fitness industry.

Prompting a Cultural Revolution

In the 1950s and 1960s, Jack LaLanne helped kickstart the American fitness revolution with “The Jack Lalanne Show.” He was responsible for introducing weight training and nutrition to the masses, although he too faced initial resistance to his avant-garde fitness ideas back in the 1930s.

Coaches, for instance, banned their athletes from lifting weights because they believed it would make them too slow and musclebound. We now know, however, that weight training helps make athletes faster and stronger. Similarly, jogging also gained popularity in the 1960s and one of the country’s first fitness chains opened in Venice Beach, California.

Over the next few decades, additional fitness centers would begin to take part in this cultural shift. Fitness chains started popping up all over the country and corporate gyms in office buildings became very popular. People began to realize the endless benefits of physical fitness on employee productivity, well-being and longevity. Gradually, physical fitness and going to the gym became ingrained in the North American culture.

Athletic Performance Revolution

Now, another athletic performance revolution is about to erupt. A lot more people are starting to see the value in cognitive training and embrace this athletic innovation. What most individuals don’t realize though, is just how long early adopters have been using this training technique. In fact, cognitive training has been used and demonstrating positive results in professional sports for decades.

It was recently revealed, for instance, that Michael Jordan secretly used strobe light training while playing with the Chicago Bulls. Jordan used this training method to help him better interpret visual cues, focus better at the foul line and perceptually slow down the game. Furthermore, you only have to look at this year’s Super Bowl to notice that a fitness revolution is brewing.

Both the Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots use cognitive training techniques to remain ahead of the game. Matt Ryan and Tom Brady, for example, are known as disciples of cognitive training. Ryan, the 2016 NFL MVP, even informed the New York Times that he uses NeuroTracker, a cognitive training tool, to improve his situational awareness. Steph Curry, the 2015/2016 NBA MVP, also uses cognitive training in the form of strobe glasses to enhance his performance.

Gaining a Competitive Edge

While these athletes are not necessarily the biggest, fastest or strongest, it’s not too surprising that they’re dominating the competition in their respective sports. To get a competitive edge, it’s clear that they’re training both their bodies and their minds.

Despite proven results, however, not everyone is suddenly embracing cognitive training. At this stage, the public still needs to be educated on neuroplasticity and the uses and effects of cognitive training on performance. Neuroplasticity, which relates to the brain’s ability to change and adapt in response to new situations and changes in environment, is backed by decades of substantial scientific research. Cutting-edge technologies are using the concept of neuroplasticity to build cognitive training interventions to enhance and rehabilitate cognitive functions.

With greater access to information, people should become less skeptical about incorporating new methods into their training regimes. Once a definitive performance edge is established and proven, this trend is bound to become ingrained in how we work out. But, for now, the masses still have to catch up.

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Over the years, I’ve noticed to what extent cognitive abilities and physical motor-skills are sensitively connected. An athlete’s ability to perform cognitively, for example, will be impacted by small differences in motor skill loads e.g. standing versus sitting. Usually, we don’t give our motor skills too much thought and take everyday movements for granted.

These functions, however, involve the precise movement of muscles needed to perform a specific action. Simple actions such as tying our shoes or kicking a ball involve our motor skills. Nevertheless, one of my key findings suggested that systematic and incremental training could help athletes increase their cognitive threshold. In other words, that they could master complex motor skills (e.g. dribbling a ball) while under high-cognitive loads.

Cognitive Performance & Motor Skills

Conversely, I wondered if the opposite may be true. For instance, could cognitive performance impact motor skills? I first investigated this hypothesis through unpublished research with NHL players. This involved using sophisticated motion tracking analysis to measure puck handling performance while using NeuroTracker. The players in that study had not trained with NeuroTracker, but did have an initial performance baseline. In other words, a starting point that could be used to measure the effect of NeuroTracker on their cognitive performance.

The players were told to perform NeuroTracker at a level that was close to their “sitting” baseline while puck handling. We observed that the differences between puck handling alone, versus combined with NeuroTracker, were stark. Motion tracking patterns of the stick revealed that puck handling skill dropped considerably. Interestingly, the players seemed unaware of these effects.

Cognitive Load & Self-Sustained Injuries

Investigating my hypothesis led me to a pilot study, which aimed to explore the potential role of these cognitive load effects on self-sustained injuries. I conducted this study with a colleague of mine, David Labbé, who is an expert in biomechanics, and graduate students.

We focused on ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injuries for two main reasons. First reason being is that it is one of the most commons sports injuries. In fact, approximately 200,000 of athletes in the United States are afflicted with an ACL tear or sprain annually. The second reason is that these types of injuries usually occur without contact with others. Evidence also shows that there is a relationship between athletes with lower levels of cognitive ability and an increased risk of ACL injury.

Measuring Movement Mechanics

In this particular study we tested college athletes in soccer, volleyball, and football.  They were each asked to perform 16 separate trials of two single-leg jumps (one forward hop, then one sideways jump to the opposite leg). Movement mechanics of each jump were measured precisely with force plates, and through motion capture of their legs and pelvis (using 36 markers).  NeuroTracker training was assigned randomly to half of the trials, with jumps performed during the tracking phase. We chose NeuroTracker as a controlled simulation of sports-related cognitive load. This is because we know that this task is relevant to athletic performance.

Analyzing Susceptibility to Injury

In all of the athletes, hip and knee kinematics (features or properties of motion) changed significantly while training with NeuroTracker, compared to just jumping alone.  Specifically, the largest effect was a change in knee abduction angle, resulting in increased strain on the ACL. This is not too surprising given that the ACL is usually torn during sports that involve sudden stops and changes in direction. The change in movement of the knee abduction angle occurred with 60% of the participants.

Our findings suggest that some people are more susceptible to these types of injuries than others. It also suggests that using NeuroTracker while performing certain jumping drills may be a valid method to identify these people. While only a pilot study, the findings indicate that cognitive load can directly affect motor-skill performance in ways that increase susceptibility to physical injuries.

Limiting Injury Risk

Our research involved athletes who were not trained on NeuroTracker. As a result, we are planning to do a follow-up study investigating if NeuroTracker training can reverse these types of injury risk factors. We’re hoping to accomplish this using similar motion-tracking assessments, which will be conducted before and after training.

If our hypothesis is valid, athletes could potentially use cognitive training to limit their risk of sustaining an injury. In this scenario, NeuroTracker would be especially relevant since it is a highly accessible intervention. In addition, data collected from thousands of athletes shows that NeuroTracker can yield large improvements within two to three hours of distributed training.

An effective cognitive intervention for injury prevention would generally improve health prospects for individuals taking part in sports. At the elite level, where injuries of top players are extremely costly, it would also provide a competitive edge. After all, elite teams know it’s much easier to prevent an injury than repair the damage after it has happened!

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It’s no secret, we have a short attention span. Our struggle to focus is partly due to an insatiable appetite to stay connected. Just simply reflect on how we’re constantly glued to or checking our smartphones. But, is our thirst to stay up to date harming us? A lot of people have already reported that their smartphone addiction is making them increasingly hyperactive and distracted.

There is also mounting evidence that it’s aiding the demise of our relationships. Now, due to our smartphone use, scientists have discovered that even a goldfish can hold a thought for longer than we can!

Measuring Attention Span

In the study, researchers surveyed 2,000 participants in Canada and studied the brain activity of 112 others using electroencephalograms (EEGs). The study split attention into three categories: sustained (attention is maintained over long periods of repetitive activity), selective (attention is maintained despite distractions) and alternating (attention can be shifted between tasks).

The findings revealed that the average human attention span is now eight seconds. Back in 2000, or around the time the mobile revolution began, it was twelve seconds. Goldfish, on the other hand, are believed to have an attention span of nine seconds.

Increasingly Digitized Lifestyle

The scientists accredit our inability to focus on an increasingly digitized lifestyle. Our thirst to consume all sorts of media on multiple devices is diminishing our long-term focus. The study found that 44% of Canadians have to “concentrate hard to stay focused on tasks.”

In addition, 45% get “side tracked from what they’re doing by unrelated thoughts or day dreams.” It appears that heavy multi-screeners find it difficult to filter out irrelevant stimuli, meaning they’re more easily distracted by multiple streams of stimuli.

Heightened Multi-Tasking Abilities

On the other hand, the study did find that our ability to multi-task has improved. Heavy social media users had more intermittent bursts of high attention. They were better at identifying what they did and did not want to engage with.

As a result, they needed less to process and commit things to memory. The scientists theorized that the improved ability to multi-task is due to the brain’s ability to adapt and change.

Satisfying a Growing Appetite

A researcher from the University of Western Ontario pointed out that the more we feed our brains, the hungrier it gets. For instance, watching a series or movie on television used to be entertaining enough.

But, with the introduction of laptops and smartphones, a lot of us now surf the web, or check our social media accounts while watching television. Digital technologies dovetail seamlessly into the information processing abilities of our brain, feeding our brains an ever-expanding diet.

Unplug to Increase Creativity

It’s clear that we may be allocating our attention differently to accommodate different technologies. That being said, it does not mean the way our attention can function has actually changed. NeuroTracker, however, uses 3D multiple object tracking to train and improve attention. Its goal is to help individuals direct their attention to relevant information, ignore distracting events and distribute attention among multiple stimuli.

You can also consider unplugging and keeping your digital devices out of reach once in a while. Our brain, after all, can only take so much focus. Excessive focus can drain your energy and make you lose self-control. Unplugging can even foster agility and creativity. Ready to give your brain a mini vacation?

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When it comes to cognitive training, recognizing the industry’s leaders is not always evident. True cognitive training role models, however, stand out due to their quality of science and how they train people.

In a recent study, a group of sports scientists put different perceptual-cognitive training interventions to the test. A clear finding emerged; that not all cognitive training programs are created equal.

Evaluating Cognitive Training

In the study, Dr. Zentgraf and his team conducted a meta-review of studies in perceptual-cognitive training in sports. The aim of the review, carried out at the Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences in Germany, was to evaluate the effectiveness of perceptual-cognitive training interventions with professional athletes.

The researchers explained that in interactive sports there are a couple of key factors that equate performance success. One, perceiving and predicting the motion of the ball, and actions of teammates and opponents is paramount. Two, is the need to execute the correct action based on those perceptions and predictions.

Sports science research shows that perceptual-cognitive abilities play a major role in differentiating elite athletes from amateurs. Findings have revealed that this is even more so the case in team sports.

Examining Positive Transfer Effects

Under rigorous benchmarks for methodological quality, the researchers narrowed down 16 perceptual-cognitive training studies from an initial total of 1,692. Two NeuroTracker studies were selected from the sixteen, with one of these being the only study to have an ideal sample size of athletes. All of the studies were then evaluated by four independent expert reviewers. They examined the studies for evidence of training and transfer effects, according to strict criteria.

The main goal of the review was to see if evidence of ‘far transfer’ existed. In other words, if training on the perceptual-cognitive task could lead to an improvement in abilities that were very different from the training itself. An example of ‘far transfer’, for instance, could be if an individual starts playing chess and consequently improves his or her mathematical reasoning abilities.

In the study, the researchers referred to ‘far transfer’ as ‘the gold-standard’ and ‘key consideration for the relevance of perceptual-cognitive training in sports.’ They also identified the problem that, ‘transfer, be it near, further or far, is mostly not studied empirically.’

Recognizing Industry Leaders

Around 60% of the studies showed off-court performance in tests similar to the training activity (near transfer). This included both NeuroTracker studies. When it came to ‘far transfer,’ only 3 studies qualified for review, and two conclusively showed no transfer effect. The remaining study was with NeuroTracker, which ‘showed a reliable positive effect’ – a 15% improvement in passing accuracy in competitive soccer play.

Other recent meta-reviews have revealed that there is often an absence of far transfer in sports, which also includes novice athlete populations. In this context, NeuroTracker is leading the Holy Grail in cognitive sports science research.

Reevaluating Views of Positive Transfer

In addition, NeuroTracker’s soccer study also puts into question previously held beliefs of positive transfer in interactive sports. A common belief is that for positive transfer to occur, practice conditions should closely recreate key situations of sports performance. For instance, let’s imagine that basketball players practice shooting 3-pointers. Positive transfer would occur if they successfully shoot a 3-pointer in a competitive game, thanks to all that practice.

The researchers suggested, however, that the NeuroTracker soccer study may provide evidence to the contrary. Namely that effective training does not necessarily need a high degree of task similarity to in-game performance. NeuroTracker, for example, uses a 3D multiple-object training method to increase decision-making abilities.

As previously mentioned, NeuroTracker training improved passing decision-making accuracy in soccer players. Consequently, NeuroTracker research is not only setting the standard for evidence-based far-transfer, but also may be defining the boundaries of training athletic performance.

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In 2012, it became clear to me just how physical motor-skills and cognitive abilities are intertwined. That year I published a study that related to the training performance of top pro teams in European Rugby, the NHL and EPL. All the teams in the study used NeuroTracker for performance training throughout the 2010 to 2011 season.

Impacting Performance

A key insight we discovered was that even small, simple differences in training can impact an athlete’s ability to improve their performance. For instance, we found that standing as opposed to sitting, had an impact on an athlete’s ability to improve at training over 15 sessions.

The mental resources involved with balance and proprioception for standing, were clearly inhibiting these athletes’ capacity to perform and adapt at a cognitive level. This is quite remarkable given that the mental resources involved are very low-level compared to sports play.

By training and measuring the cognitive threshold of these athletes, we realized for the first time, how mind and body functions are very sensitively connected. It demonstrated just how useful neuroscience tools could be for understanding athletic abilities at new levels.

Pushing the Mental Threshold

Our early findings were then explored more in depth in another study with Olympic-level athletes at the Catalan High Performance Center in Barcelona. A 26 session NeuroTracker program was used on a selection of athletes from multiple sports. The program progressed from sitting, to standing, to a reasonably difficult balance task.

After 14 initial seated sessions (6 mins each), standing was performed and NeuroTracker scores were reduced. It’s important to note, however, that the athletes’ learning curves were only temporarily affected when the task changed from sitting to standing. In fact, the athletes rapidly adapted back to their NeuroTracker performance at the expected learning rate.

Similarly, when we added a third more difficult balance task, there was again an initial impact on NeuroTracker scores followed by rapid improvements (within 6 training sessions). This revealed just how critical learning methodology can be. With the correct training load over time, elite athletes can effectively overcome the challenges of motor-skills tasks while performing at different mental thresholds.

Evolving Cognitive Training

Over the years, I’ve also seen to what extent athletes can perform incredibly high levels of physical-cognitive tasks with longer term training. For example, evolving from high-speed treadmill skating while puck handling at NeuroTracker speeds triple the norm.

What’s remarkable is that despite the evolution to more challenging tasks, they maintained NeuroTracker scores beyond double the typical baseline for pro athletes. Consequently, what can appear as truly gifted performance levels may actually be attainable with a refined physical-cognitive training methodology.

Overcoming Cognitive Overload

In the sports science domain, enhancing performance through physical-cognitive training still remains relatively new ground. Traditionally, this is because there have been no significant training paradigms for simulating high cognitive loads experienced in high pressure competition moments.

Certainly in my mind, this has major implications for professional athletes, especially for safety. High-pressure moments of competitive play, for instance, often overload athletes on a mental level while motor-skill demands are also high. This leaves them vulnerable to sustaining an injury.

Minimizing Sports Injuries

Concussion occurrences in the NHL are a pertinent example. Research shows that NHL players are exceptionally vulnerable to being blind-sided when shooting or passing the puck. While only momentary, this acute point of both high mental and physical load is responsible for more than half of the mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBIs) in NHL games.

I suspect there is a similar pattern for collision-related injuries in any team sport. After all, players’ competitive instincts are inherently geared for exploiting opponents’ weaknesses.

I’ll explore this idea further in a follow-up article, where I discuss how a new study indicates that cognitive load is a critical factor in biomechanically-related injury risk. Surprisingly, this seems to be the case even when performing relatively simple movements. As a result, it has wide implications for risks in sports competitions.

New to NeuroTracker? Learn more from Professor Faubert's previous blog.

Professor Faubert Introduces NeuroTracker

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In today’s digital world, we often hear about how technological devices are affecting our vision. Given that approximately 28% of people spend 10 or more hours in front of digital devices daily, it’s no wonder our eyes are feeling the strain. Common symptoms of digital eye strain include redness, dryness, blurry vision and headaches.

Underlying Vision Problems

Existing eye conditions, however, may play a key role in digital eye strain and yet, often go undetected. After all, a lot of people only consult an optometrist if they are unable to see clearly (20/20). Nevertheless, optometrists know that being able to see clearly is only a small part of what makes up your vision.

Statistics show, for instance, that 80% of what we learn is through our eyes. As a result, impaired vision can have a profound impact on how people learn and process incoming visual information. Untreated ocular conditions can be particularly damaging to children and can further worsen digital eye strain.

Vision Therapy

An increasing number of optometrists, therefore, are starting to offer vision therapy, also known as neuro-visual rehabilitation, as an integral part of their practice. Vision therapy provides patients with the right opportunity to develop new neurological pathways relating to the control of the eyes. Developing new pathways is helpful when it comes to perceiving and processing incoming information.

Vision therapy can help with reading comprehension, reading speed, attention deficit disorders related to vision conditions, hand eye coordination, balance and brain injury rehabilitation. A natural part of vision therapy is learning and implementing new technologies. NeuroTracker, a multiple object tracking tool, is one of these technologies.

1. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

A learning-related visual problem directly affects how we learn, read, or sustain close work. Many children with convergence insufficiency and other binocular vision disorders display symptoms identical to ADHD.

When it comes to diagnosing ADHD, it’s important to look for anything that could relate to the learning issue. In other words, diagnosing ADHD should be a diagnosis of exclusion. It’s important to evaluate tracking and other visual problems during testing for learning disabilities. If the individual in question does have vision problems, then vision therapy could be effective.

2. Dyslexia or Reading Disorder

Similarly, vision therapy can also be helpful with dyslexic symptoms if there are deficits in visual function. For instance, if there are deficits in how the eyes track, work together, or how the brain processes the visual information. At its core, dyslexia simply means difficulty with reading, spelling and writing. So, when professionals test for dyslexia, vision problems may not actually be ruled out since they are told that the ‘vision is fine’ (the individual sees clearly 20/20).

If the dyslexia is a result of vision problems, then vision therapy treatment may help dyslexic symptoms disappear. The positive aspect about dealing with vision conditions is that they are objectively measurable.

3. Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries (mTBIs)

New research shows that vision is one of the things that a concussion, or a mild traumatic brain injury, impacts most. Concussions often affect how the eyes work, causing issues relating to balance, dizziness, nausea, reading speed/comprehension, light sensitivity and fatigue. As a result, it can make returning to work, school or competitive play very difficult.

Many pro sports leagues are already using visual testing to measure when athletes are actually healed and ready to get back into the game. For some concussion rehabilitation clinics, vision therapy has become an integral part of their practice. Consequently, neurotechnologies have also become an important tool for post-concussion recovery sessions.

It’s clear that dysfunctional visual skills affect our quality of life. So whether you’re suffering from vision-related learning difficulties, recovering from a concussion, or need help navigating a busy environment, vision therapy could be a beneficial solution. Not to mention that as digital device use increases, you’ll definitely want to fix any underlying eye issues to prevent further aggravation from digital eye strain.

In professional sports, a lot of people believe that muscular injuries are just part of the game. That it’s normal for professional athletes to risk injury every time they train, practice and compete. These beliefs, however, are simply not true! In fact, in about 99% of cases, injuries can be prevented.

[x_custom_headline type="left" level="h2" looks_like="h5"]Updating Training Techniques[/x_custom_headline]

The problem is that a lot of professional training techniques remain obsolete; they’re a recipe for injury and failure. A lot of sports training professionals, for instance, still train all team members the same way. In other words, these professionals do not use an individualized approach to training.

This is problematic because players in different positions will not play and experience the game the same way. Case in point, a defender in soccer does not play and react the same way as a forward.

In addition, each player has his or her own set of weaknesses and limitations. Consequently, the lack of an individualized approach places limits on athletes to realize their full performance potential and protect themselves from injuries.

[x_custom_headline type="left" level="h2" looks_like="h5"]Establishing Readiness Measures[/x_custom_headline]

Throughout my career as a coach, I’ve seen this firsthand. For example a situation occurred with a soccer player who was out for 4 months due to a foot injury. After rehabilitation, he returned to the field and played a decent game. But, 70 minutes in, he got injured again! In fact, he got a foot injury in the same place, but on the other foot. His experience shows that there was something lacking in his performance readiness assessment. He probably felt that he was ready to return the field, physically speaking, but mentally, that’s a completely different story!

[x_custom_headline type="left" level="h2" looks_like="h5"]Using a Customized Approach[/x_custom_headline]

In my opinion, it’s clear that to limit muscular injury and enhance athletic performance, it’s essential to use innovative technologies and customized techniques. At Optimum Sport Performance, I treat and train my clients using an individualized approach. Part of this approach includes using NeuroTracker, a 3D multiple object tracking tool.

[x_custom_headline type="left" level="h2" looks_like="h5"]Integrating a Cognitive Assessment[/x_custom_headline]

When a client comes to see me, I first establish a cognitive baseline for them using NeuroTracker. This baseline allows me to understand their overall cognitive threshold. In other words, I create a physico-cognitive passport for them, which allows me to better understand their mental and physical strengths, weaknesses and limitations.

With this cognitive assessment, I can better design a program that corresponds to their physical and mental needs. Only by understanding how both the mind and body work can real, individualized training be built.

[x_custom_headline type="left" level="h2" looks_like="h5"]Enhancing Peripheral Vision[/x_custom_headline]

When athletes come to me post-injury I use NeuroTracker to help measure their cognitive performance. After some training, I’ll be able to determine if an athlete’s score matches his or her baseline score, to see if he or she is ready to compete again.

By isolating their peripheral vision and training them to track during competition, the athlete will be able to detect and prevent more unwanted collisions that can cause injuries. Improving both the body and mind is essential for preventing re-injuries of the same kind.

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By Josh Freedland

Too often, a concussion appears to be followed by some sort of knee or ankle injury, including the dreaded ACL tear. ACL sprains are, after all, one of the most common sports injuries experienced by athletes. In fact, this trend has been observed in a variety of sports, such as football, basketball, soccer and lacrosse.

For example, take football players Darrelle Revis and Robert Griffin III (RG3). Both Revis and RG3 were concussed during the 2012 season and tore their ACL shortly after returning to the field.

But, how could brain injuries result in lower-body injuries? How could a concussion make an athlete more susceptible to a lower extremity injury? These questions have attracted curiosity from sports specialists for many years.

Concussions Increase Lower-Body Injury Rates

Already in 2013, a study found that athletes who suffer a concussion are 3.79 times more likely to get a muscle or ligament injury – within 90-days of the concussion – than non-concussed teammates. While the sample size in the study was relatively small, the head researcher was pretty confident with the association. He was clearly onto something!

In 2015, a similar study was published, which concluded that lower-body injuries were far more common after a concussion than before one. A study in 2016 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison also discovered that recently concussed collegiate athletes were 2.48 times more likely to sustain a lower-body injury than non-concussed teammates.

The researchers suggested that concussed athletes’ susceptibility to lower-body injuries could be due to: abnormal motor functioning, issues with attention resource allocation and neuromuscular/balance/postural impairments.

Changes in Reaction Times and Decision-Making

It’s clear that even if athletes are asymptomatic after a concussion, their mental condition could be altered. As a result, changes in reaction times and decision-making could lead to further injury.

For example, imagine that you’re a basketball player getting back on defence. It’s your first game back since suffering a concussion two weeks ago. An offensive player tries to make a move on you, faking right and dribbling left. When he makes his move, you attempt to poke the ball away, but your knee gets caught in the court. This results in a torn ACL.

After all, usually an ACL injury is the result of an abrupt deceleration, a sudden change in running direction, pivoting in place, or hyperextension of the knee. Following a concussion, your brain simply isn’t quick enough to relay messages from your brain to your body. In just a split-second, you find yourself unable to do what you want.

Impact of Impaired Mental Capabilities

I experienced this firsthand when I suffered from a concussion during my junior year at Bates College. When I finally returned to the football field, I felt like I was playing in slow motion and all of my surroundings were moving 100 miles per hour. It took me longer to decide if a play was a run or a pass.

Nevertheless, I had been cleared to play after passing the necessary test and protocols. Physically, I was definitely ready to play, but my brain was not up to “game speed.” My mental capabilities were not 100 percent, and definitely not up to where they were prior to sustaining a concussion.

Cognitive Training for Physical Injury Recovery

Unfortunately, following a concussion, no amount of physical training can fix an athlete’s impaired motor functioning and balance. These impairments appear to be neurological.

However, just as you can physically rehab and strengthen your knee after surgery, you can do the same for your brain. Regaining and strengthening your cognitive skills is now a reality. To rehab some of my injured athletes, I use NeuroTracker. It allows them to keep their brains in shape (and up to “game-speed”) even when they can’t physically train.

This article was inspired by How Concussions Increase ACL Injury Rates, published in Stack on February 22nd, 2017.

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We’ve all seen it; that moment when an athlete crumbles to the ground, immobilized by or writhing in unbearable pain. From strains to sprains, it seems like injuries in sports are inevitable. In the best case scenario, the athlete is rehabbed efficiently and quickly returns to the competition. In the worst case, the injury is career-ending.

There’s a common misconception that anytime you step out onto the field of play, you always run the risk of some sort of injury. In the majority of cases, however, sports injuries are preventable. It’s important to be vigilant while exercising and listen to your body. Without further ado, here are the 3 most common injuries in sports:

1. Ankle Sprain

This injury occurs when the ligaments in your ankle tear or get stretched too much. It usually happens on the outside of the ankle, when you “roll” your foot. As a result, the ligament on the outside of your ankle is stretched more than it’s able to.

Your body responds with signs such as swelling, bruising, tenderness, itching or stiffness in the ankle. A lot of ankle sprains occur in sports which involve a lot of jumping. The risk is also higher when there’s a chance of stepping on someone’s foot. These sports include basketball, soccer and volleyball.

2. ACL Strain

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is a ligament that runs behind the knee, between the femur (thighbone) and tibia (shinbone). Straining the ACL can occur when a player suddenly decelerates, tries to abruptly change running direction, hyperextension of the knee or pivoting in place.

Symptoms can include sudden and severe knee pain, a feeling of looseness in the joint, swelling or an inability to put weight on the joint without pain. Sports where ACL strain is high risk include soccer and baseball.

3. Tennis Elbow

This injury is brought on by the overuse of the arm, forearm and hand muscles. Surprisingly, only a small group of people diagnosed with tennis elbow actually get it from playing tennis. Nevertheless, the risk is high for racquet sports such as squash or racquetball. In tennis elbow sufferers, the pain is focused on the outside of the arm, where your forearm meets your elbow.

When you constantly use your arm in a repetitive motion, the tendons at the elbow end of the ECR (extensor carpi radialis) muscle may develop small tears. As a result, the tears lead to inflammation, putting stress on your arm and making it painful to lift and grip things.

Preventing Injuries

To prevent injuries, each workout should start with a gentle warmup. Getting warmed up increases blood flow to the muscles, gets your more flexible and could decrease injuries.

There are also cognitive training tools that help strengthen your peripheral vision. Heightened visual processing skills could help prevent injuries as they allow you to better read your opponent’s actions and respond more quickly. This could mean the difference between dodging your opponent and colliding with them head on. Stay safe!

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When it comes to the brain, it seems like new insights are being discovered every day. Firstly, we now know that the brain is adaptable; you’re not stuck with what you were born with. Secondly, you can actually develop new mental abilities throughout your lifetime.

Brain’s Inner Network

Now, neuroscientists have discovered something new about the inner workings of your brain cells, also known as neurons. A neuron is composed of a cell body (soma), dendrites and an axon.

Until recently, the scientific community believed that soma brain cells were the main powerhouse in your brain. In other words, the main engine that powered all your thoughts and actions.

Higher Neuron Activity

New research from scientists at UCLA suggest, however, that the dendrites could be generating 10 times more neuron activity than the soma. A dendrite functions as an “antennae” of the nerve cell; it receives signals from other nerve cells.

Dendrites make up over 90% of our neuronal tissue. Consequently, this means that your brain is capable of producing over 100 times more electrical signals than previously believed.

Secret Lives of Neurons

As dendrites are extremely long and fragile branch-like structures, measuring them proved to be too difficult. Nevertheless, the researchers at UCLA came up with a technique for investigating how they work in rats.

The technique led to the discovery of the supercharged electrical activity of dendrites. One of the researchers explained: “We have discovered the secret lives of neurons, especially in the extensive neuronal branches…[this] fundamentally changes the nature of our understanding of how the brain computes information.”

Communication Signals in the Brain

The study also led to a second surprise, that the brain is both digital and analogue. Similar to a computer, the digital aspect of our brains allows us to switch between on and off neuron states to communicate. Dendrites, on the other hand, seem to function more analogously. For instance, they perform wave-like states of electrical signals, more like radio or TV transmissions, to send messages in the brain.

This discovery is revolutionary because it reveals that brain states can be vastly more complex that previously imagined. The study also revealed that dendrite activity is responsible for overall rat behaviour, far more often than activity in the main part of neurons.

New Understandings of the Brain

The study’s rich findings will undoubtedly help open up new research avenues that could radically change our understanding of the human brain. In other words, we may be able to find out what the brain is capable of and how it learns at a more fundamental level.

"Our findings indicate that learning may take place when the input neuron is active at the same time that a dendrite is active - and it could be that different parts of dendrites will be active at different times, which would suggest a lot more flexibility in how learning can occur within a single neuron," said Jason Moore, one of the team members.

Improving Cognitive Performance

This potential paradigm shift in neuroscience may also increase the importance of neuroplasticity. It could potentially shed light on how some cognitive interventions can produce dramatic improvements in mental performance. With 9 times more brain matter responsible for how we perceive, think and behave, finding ways to effectively tap into neuroplasticity will be increasingly important.

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In late 2016, public interest in commercial brain training programs snowballed. This interest emerged largely due to an article that was published prior, which investigated their efficacy. The media, in particular, scrutinized these brain training programs; with multiple journalists citing the meta-review as evidence that these programs don’t work.

Investigating Far Transfer

“Do ‘Brain Training’ Programs Work?” had two main conclusions: firstly, that there is limited evidence of far transfer; and secondly, that the research across the industry lacks quality. Far transfer refers to the degree in which a learned behaviour will result in the direct improvement of non-related real world abilities.

Let’s suppose, for example, a pupil began to learn and play chess and found that his or her abilities to solve math problems improved. The transfer from the learned behaviour, playing chess, carried-over to a non-related ability, solving math problems. This would be evidence of far transfer.

Significant Program Differences

As I’ve mentioned before, the standards set by the meta-review of brain training programs were somewhat idealistic. The more pressing issue, however, is how it essentially lumped all cognitive and brain training programs on the market together.

There are several problems with this overall line of reasoning. Firstly, cognitive training applications differ significantly in terms of what and how they actually train people. Secondly, the quality of science behind each program differs wildly too.

Quality of Research

A new study, published in the journal Neuropsychology Review, effectively illustrates this point. The aim of the study was to assess the quality of research behind commercial brain training products. The researchers investigated 26 studies published on 7 brain trainer applications. They concluded that overall, the research demonstrated generally high methodological quality.

Studies by Posit Science and Cogni Fit even possessed Level I evidence, which is considered a gold standard of research. The researchers stated that the evidence supports that at least some of the commercially available computerized brain training products can assist in the promotion of healthy brain aging.

In fact, in order for products on the market to benefit society, they do not necessarily have to uphold gold standards of research. Even high-quality cognitive applications have the potential to benefit billions of lives. That being said, there still needs to be an understanding that cognitive training applications can be fundamentally different from each other.

Improving High-Level Cognitive Functions

A pertinent example is NeuroTracker, a cognitive training tool that uses 3D multiple object tracking technology. It’s no secret, NeuroTracker’s technology has produced unprecedented rates of learning and transfer. The majority of training programs require 30 hours or more of training to achieve measurable benefits.

Multiple studies reveal, however, that only 1 to 3 hours of distributed NeuroTracker training produces broad and significant improvements. This has been seen across a wide range of high-level cognitive functions.

Some of these studies even included evidence of far transfer. For instance, it was shown that NeuroTracker training led to improvements in decision-making abilities in sports competition. This is quite remarkable given that NeuroTracker’s training task is entirely neutral and abstract from a sports context.

Enhancing Human Performance

NeuroTracker is also unique when it comes to providing measures highly relevant to human performance. One example is why elite athletes have brains geared for rapidly learning complex and dynamic visual scenes.

NeuroTracker has also demonstrated efficacy across many diverse populations. These populations range from children with severe learning disorders to elite military forces – that is usually rarely demonstrated.

Cognitive Training Leaders

We think it’s time that people start to recognize the leaders in the cognitive training industry. After all, you cannot simply lump every cognitive training program together, just like you wouldn’t lump all fitness training programs together.

There are, and will be, training tools that stand out from the crowd as definite role models of the cognitive training industry. We believe NeuroTracker’s rich research base allows us to maintain our position as one of these role models.

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It’s no surprise that sport changes the brain. But, is the brain responsible for sporting success? Are there emerging technologies that offer a shortcut to training your brain? In his new book, “The Athletic Brain,” Amit Katwala investigates advanced sports technologies and possible shortcuts in the development of athletic brains. Check out the key insights from this award-winning sports journalist and Senior Writer at Sport Magazine.

Performance and Cognitive Abilities

Katwala draws parallels between the cognitive domain and enhanced performance in multiple sports. After all, sports success isn’t determined simply by physical prowess right? Katwala uses Wayne Rooney as a prime example of the importance of mental prowess in sports success. As you may already know, Rooney is often stigmatized for his lack of intelligence. But, this categorization is unfair.

Rooney possesses a unique sports intelligence. In fact, when it comes to split-second awareness and decision-making on the field, his abilities are almost superhuman. It’s his heightened mental skill that allowed him to score the greatest goal in the first two decades of the English Premier League (EPL).

Sharpening Mental Capacities

Elite athletes spend a lifetime sharpening not only their physical skills, but also developing their mental capacities to become the best. They push the boundaries of performance beyond current limits to gain a critical advantage. Just look at the success factors behind sports stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Roger Federer, Tiger Woods and Lewis Hamilton. These stars have strengthened their mental capacities to optimize their sports success.

From the ‘Footbonaut’ to touchscreen-based games in the NFL to NeuroTracker, Katwala examines the technologies being increasingly adopted by sports professionals. The ‘Footbonaut,’ for instance, is credited for the success of Borussia Dortmund, who happens to be one of the first users of the machine.

Cognitive Training Tools

In “The Athletic Brain,” Katwala also visits Mick Clegg’s ‘Elite Lab,’ a brain gym that is located in England. Clegg is a former coach for Manchester United F.C., and hosts sophisticated training gear such as FitLight and Dynavision D2. Katwala interviews Clegg about his cognitive training journey. He discusses the experiments Clegg undertook in his 11 years of coaching athleticism at Man United, with the likes of Cr7, Roy Keane and David Beckham.

Clegg’s epiphany occurred when he realized the importance of ‘rapid cognition’ in competitive sport. He understood that the ‘need for speed’ in game all related to perceiving, deciding and reacting faster than the competition. Clegg’s quest for increasing cognitive speed led him to NeuroTracker, a cognitive training tool. He found NeuroTracker useful for not only one footballer, but for the entire team.

Mental Training for All Athletes

Katwala examines how cutting-edge studies are being applied to sports. Throughout his book, his examples help explain the complex interactions going on in the brain. He also reveals how training the brain is yielding real results in the sports realm. Katwala also tackles why some athletes are able to push themselves further, and others crumble under pressure.

While “The Athletic Brain” mainly focuses on 'mental' aspect of elite sport, it also explores how these tools are increasingly becoming available to the ordinary amateur. As a result, they are revolutionizing the ways people train and develop their skills in sports.

Train like a Pro

Katwala’s book is certainly recommended for anyone with an interest in sports training or coaching, or seeking to become a professional athlete. At the same time, it is also accessible for the casual sports fan or amateur athlete. Katwala succeeds in providing insights into how we can train like a pro, and apply these insights to our own lives.

In the world of elite competitive sports, perceptions of what is meant by performance training are changing. As seen with most innovations, however, there is usually a lot of inertia and resistance to change.

Early adopters tend to be the first to embrace innovations in performance training. And, only once a definitive performance edge is established, does the rest of the competition catch up.

Adopting Performance Innovations

As I’ve mentioned before, strength and conditioning is a good example of this reluctance to adopt new methodologies. In fact, just over 10 years ago, training in the gym was a relatively new concept in the English Premier League (EPL). There was a stigma attached to lifting weights, with the belief that they made you slower and “stiffened you up.”

Nevertheless, within a few seasons of each other, every EPL club recruited a strength and conditioning coach. A similar change was seen with sports science, which quickly became an essential new department across sports teams worldwide.

Performance statistics also played an integral role in the sports performance realm once privileged technologies became available. In the NBA in particular, performance statistics revolutionized the way players were chosen, trained, and even how they played on the court.

Changing Perceptions in Performance

The surprising parallel between all of these shifts in perception is that few people actually predict their significance until mass adoption comes to the foreground. The technology and the know-how is in place, but only early adopters seem to recognize the potential. In addition, these adopters generally keep the information to themselves.

I believe, however, that we’re now in the midst of the next emergent phenomena – a new generation of cognitive assessment and elite training technologies. Almost every professional with a career in sports knows that the cognitive dimension is a major factor in elite performance. In fact, there’s a plethora of sports science to support this.

Traditionally, the issue has been the challenge of how to understand and enhance this elite performance area. However, with the rapid evolution in both neuroscience and technology over the past decade, this challenge is fading quickly.

Cognitive Training & Pro Sports

You only have to look at the recent Super Bowl LI to realize that a perceptual shift is occurring. Both the Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots use cognitive training techniques to remain ahead of the game. Matt Ryan and Tom Brady, for instance, are known to be disciples of cognitive training.

Ryan even recently informed the New York Times that he uses NeuroTracker three times a week to improve his situational awareness, while Brady acknowledged using BrainHQ over recent seasons to ‘stay sharp.’

The Atlanta Falcons are an early adopter role model. Since pairing up with NeuroTracker to improve overall awareness and focus, the Falcons have experienced a phenomenal rise in success. The type of success that has been rarely seen in the history of American football. In fact, at the start of the season they had 150-1 odds to win the Super Bowl.

Constant Technological Evolution

What places the Falcons at the forefront of innovation is that they are not only partnering with cutting-edge technology companies, but also taking part in their development. This is a pivotal concept. Skeptics of cognitive technologies in sport generally don’t understand that this field is in constant development.

Firstly, new technologies and science are developing at rapid rates. Secondly, already established technologies are evolving into increasingly more sophisticated applications. Lastly, these technologies are seamlessly integrating with other developing technologies. From what we’ve seen with NeuroTracker over past few years, this augmentation of existing technological applications will be a monumental change.

NeuroTracker’s Evolving Programs

To keep NeuroTracker relevant and challenging for our users, we’ve added a tactical awareness component to our programs. Athletes are asked to train on NeuroTracker while reading sports plays in a virtual environment. This challenges them to make decisions and responses while under an added cognitive load.

We’ve also seen Olympic athletes utilize NeuroTracker’s Learning program and motion-capture feedback. The intention is increase their combined limits of physical skills and cognitive load to extremely high levels.

The next stages in development are integrating Biofeedback and Neurofeedback elements with NeuroTracker. The goal is to see exactly how the mind and body respond to cognitive stress and optimize load automatically. And trust me, there’s lots more to come!

Applied Research Centre

To support ongoing developments in the field we’ve set up our non-profit CogniSens Applied Research Centre. Its function is to support advanced research of increasingly specific NeuroTracker applications. With this perspective in mind, it’s clear that cognitive training is set to revolutionize the sports world very soon.

In fact, cognitive training will be a key factor in separating the competition. Early adopters will gain a definitive edge over those are slow to embrace change. Adapt to stay ahead of the game, so you don’t get left behind!

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Questions over the efficacy of brain training programs have drawn much attention to date. In particular the study ‘Do “Brain-Training” Programs Work?’ was a key focus point in 2016. This was a meta-review of scientific research conducted on key players in the brain training industry.

It was a response to a 2014 consensus statement by an international group of 133 scientists, claiming that substantial scientific literature exists that supports the efficacy of brain training for real world needs. In contrast, the review conducted by Simon’s et al concluded that brain training interventions have evidence for being effective at near transfer, but minimal evidence for far transfer.

Media Response

The media response to the Simon’s review was substantial, largely interpreting that such interventions have negligible effect on real world needs. However, many publishers covered this as a debate centred on the ambiguity of evidence available.

It’s a debate that’s likely to continue. One reason is that the Simon’s group set out to examine the evidence for transfer according to their rigorously defined set of ‘best practices’. Accordingly all of the 132 cited papers examined failed to meet their standards.

Dispute in Academic Community

Understandably, this has generated discord in the academic community, partly because the call for costly, large-scale, double blind clinical trials for each particular cognitive application is considered to be unrealistic. An added point is that the Simon’s review included only research cited on each brain training company’s website. As an example, CogniSens was listed as having no cited research - a somewhat unfair assertion, as NeuroTracker peer reviewed studies were actually available as PDF downloads.

That said, we believe the strive to qualify research on cognitive training is invaluable, as there are undoubtedly significant differences in the type and effectiveness of brain training applications now available. The article ran by the New York Times on NeuroTracker, which weighed the endorsement in professional sports, against the broader scepticism on brain training, shows there an on-going story at play.

NeuroTracker’s Copious Research

Our position with NeuroTracker is that we believe our rich research base provides a role model in the industry. For instance, one peer reviewed study showed that soccer players trained on NeuroTracker showed a 15% improvement in passing accuracy in competitive matches – a rare demonstration of far transfer.

What’s more, we’re seeing exponential growth in depth and range of studies, which inspired us to setup a non-profit Applied Research Centre to support a plethora of high-level independent research groups in multiple human performance domains.

Enhancing Human Performance

The snowballing science on NeuroTracker, both in the lab and in the field, shows there is something very real to offer for the enhancement of human performance.  Indeed, the fact that there is so much growing scientific interest in NeuroTracker, indicates that this technology will lead the field.

More than this though, it’s important to also validate new applications of cognitive training within new market places. It is by increasing awareness and developing practical uses, that new forms of enhancement such as NeuroTracker will become widely accepted.

Adopting New Technologies

It’s not unusual for new technologies or interventions to become established before full scientific endorsement. Strength and conditioning is a good illustration here, as it still has negligible evidence of far transfer in sports, yet it is widely accepted as a necessary aspect of performance training.

As we expect to see more and more, it is by use in the field that the applied benefits will be primarily demonstrated. With NeuroTracker, such adoption has actually opened up valuable avenues of research normally inaccessible, studies with professional sports teams and elite American military have been great examples of this.

We’re certainly keen to keep growing this synergy between research and applied use in the market.

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From special diets to ice cold baths, we’ve all heard about the lengths a professional athlete will go to gain a competitive edge. Sure, building muscle, gaining speed and improving agility are beneficial ways to enhance your athletic performance.

But, to dominate on the field and in the gym, it takes a lot more than simply developing your body. Are you ready to take your performance to the next level? Here are 5 ways to train like a professional athlete:

1. Prioritize Compound Movements

When you use more muscles, you can gain more muscles. With compound movements such as squats, deadlifts, power cleans and overhead presses, you use multiple joints at once. Consequently, more muscles are used and this will help build your overall strength.

2. Work out your Brain

Pro athletes like Matt Ryan and Steph Curry train their brains to get a leg up on the competition. You may be wondering, however, how exactly do these pro athletes train their brains? They use a cognitive training tool that improves mental abilities that are critical to sports performance.

These abilities include awareness, attention and decision-making. They are beneficial for identifying key play opportunities, filtering out distractions, responding more quickly to plays and predicting your opponent’s moves. Fortunately, with NeuroTracker, you too can indulge in some cognitive training from the comfort of your own home.

3. Engage in some Jumping

Jumping is an exercise that can make your movements more explosive. Consequently, this could improve your overall sports performance. If you work on your jumping and landing mechanics, this could have a high carryover to multiple sports. Some of these sports include: basketball, badminton, soccer, volleyball and tennis. To train like a pro athlete, you can start by doing some squat jumps, box jumps and quick vertical jumps (spending as minimal time on the ground as possible).

4. Drink more Water

In order for your muscles to function optimally during training, it’s crucial to drink enough water. The sheets of connective tissue that attach and enclose your muscles are largely composed of water. So, if you get dehydrated, it can negatively impact your performance.

The sliding surfaces between these sheets of tissues and other structures become “glued” down. As a result, you may experience cramping while working out, which compromises your training session. For high-performance athletes, experts recommend multiplying your body weight times 0.6 to get the number of ounces you should drink each day.

5. Practice Active Recovery

When you have stiff, sore muscles, the last thing you feel like doing is working out. Experts say, however, that the worst thing you can do when you have over exhausted muscles, is to do nothing at all. Pro athletes engage in short, low-intensity workouts, to speed up recovery. Even small workouts such as walking, 15-minute dynamic warm ups and sled dragging variations can increase blood flow without causing soreness.

Sure, becoming a pro athlete requires hard work, dedication and sacrifice. At least now you know the ways you can take your training to the next level. So, ready to enhance your athletic performance?

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Genetics, favourable resources, and hard work are often cited as factors that can catapult an athlete from amateur to pro. But, what if there was another component? What if it’s what’s between the ears that differentiates a top player from a great one?

Cognition and Performance

Well, studies have shown that elite athletes have a distinct cognitive threshold. It’s this superior mental performance that gives them a critical performance advantage. Under pressure, they have unique abilities that allow them to remain aware, in control and rapidly process everything that’s going on around them. This leads to more tactful and accurate decision-making in competitive play.

Can You Improve Your Cognitive Threshold?

Okay, so elite athletes already have a superior cognitive threshold. But, can it be improved? What about for amateur athletes? Can they enhance their cognitive abilities to become elite? Fortunately, basic cognition is something you can train. Mick Clegg, a professional coach and trainer, believed early on in the importance of integrating basic cognitive drills in his players’ training regimes.

Cognitive Training Technology

When Clegg joined Manchester United F.C. in 2000, the correlation between cognitive components and performance, became even clearer. He travelled to Montreal to investigate NeuroTracker, the technology that powers NeuroTracker Personal. At the time, the program was only available to a handful of Olympians. Clegg, who left the club in 2011, has used the program on a plethora of athletes, and continues to do so today!

As Clegg continued to use NeuroTracker on his athletes, he started to add on complex dual-tasks to their program. These athletes moved from the basic program to performing skill-relevant drills under progressively greater cognitive loads. For instance, some athletes were required to lift weights while they completed their trials. These dual-tasks allowed the professional athletes to adapt and further develop their cognitive abilities.

Cognitive Training Results

Clegg even founded his own advanced performance center named ‘Elite Lab’ which he further expanded and developed in 2013. At the Elite Lab, he integrates NeuroTracker in all of his clients’ training programs alongside a range of the latest training technologies. Clegg has run over 10,000 NeuroTracker sessions with a wide range of professional athletes, and has helped create world champions in many sports, such as kickboxing, taekwondo, and speedway racing.

He has a proven track record for moving each individual to their next level of performance, all with integrating cognitive training into each athlete’s development program. Whether the mission is to achieve a first team spot in an EPL team or become a world number one, Clegg has succeeded. He’s trained pro athletes such as Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham and Wayne Rooney. Due to this reputation, he’s now regularly asked to provide seminars around the world in regards to his unique approach.

To become even better at your sport, start cognitive training today! It’s never too late to enhance your cognitive abilities so that you can perform at your best level. Seeking to raise your situational awareness? Want to improve your decision-making abilities in competitive play? NeuroTracker provides the tools you need to enhance your athletic performance!

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Last night, you could hear Falcons fans’ hearts breaking all over the world. In the 51st edition of the Super Bowl, the Atlanta Falcons fought for their lives. And, up until the final quarter, they were dominating the New England Patriots.

A Falcons win seemed highly probable, and fans envisioned the team taking the Vince Lombardi Trophy home. Winning the championship game would have been a first for the team. Alas, things started to turn sour for the Falcons in the fourth quarter and the Patriots prevailed, winning 34-28.

Despite the devastating loss, however, let’s not forget how far they’ve come.

Ultimate Underdogs

Entering the annual championship game, the Falcons were, without question, the ultimate underdogs and the Patriots were the “favourites.” It was the Falcons' second time ever making it to the Super Bowl; their first time occurred almost 20 years ago.

The New England Patriots, on the other hand, already won four Super Bowls and Tom Brady was voted AP NFL MVP twice. Despite experts betting against them all season long, the explosive Falcons did not cease to amaze.

Every game, their red-hot offense and Matt Ryan’s ability to spread the ball around helped propel them closer to victory. They gave us hope that the underdog could prosper. Even when the Patriots seemed like they were catching up, Julio Jones’ big catch gave Falcons fans a restored sense of hope.

The truth is, unless you are a diehard Patriots fan, why wouldn’t you root for the underdog? When you bet on them, and they win, it’s the best feeling in the world! But even if they lose, you kind of knew that it could happen all along. So when the Patriots won the coin toss, it seems like their fate was sealed.

The MVP Curse

When Ryan was voted the AP 2016 NFL’s MVP award on Saturday, some fans were already nervous about the potential outcome of the championship game. After all, for the past 16 years winning MVP seemed more like a curse than an honour. Since 2000, for example, no NFL MVP had won the Super Bowl. Even Brady wasn’t the regular-season MVP in any of his Super Bowl-winning seasons.

Ryan’s Enhanced Awareness

With Ryan winning MVP, but losing the Super Bowl in the same season, it appears that the curse lives on. Nevertheless, it’s clear that all season long Ryan had a special gift at recognizing key play opportunities and being aware of his surroundings. Is this gift something he was born with?

Perhaps, but Ryan credits NeuroTracker, a cognitive training tool, for enhancing his spatial awareness. He told the New York Times: “I use it all year-round. That’s key as a quarterback, to be able to see things and how they relate to each other quickly. I think that’s exactly what NeuroTracker helps you do.”

So while the Falcons did not win last night, the team still had a remarkable season. Standout performances from Ryan, wide receiver Jones and outside linebacker Vic Beasley Jr., prove that the team’s future still looks bright.

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In the past decades, a growing number of optometrists have begun to recognize the importance of treating the visual system, as opposed to simply visual acuity. Given that 70% of incoming sensory information is visual, simply treating a patient’s ability to see clearly (20/20) is not enough.

In fact, visual acuity is only about 1 in 17 visual skills that are needed for an efficient and accurate visual system. This explains why many adults and children are left to struggle with issues their visual conditions cause. For instance, 1 in 4 children have a visual condition that may interfere with learning.

Neglected Visual Issues

Vision problems resulting from concussions or traumatic brain injuries are also often overlooked. This is particularly the case during initial treatment of the injury. Why? Well, there’s an extremely high chance that the average practitioner has never learned about concussions.

In fact, recent studies reveal that the majority of frontline family and ER physicians are very limited when it comes to concussion knowledge. This also includes the application of appropriate concussion management. Consequently, the affected patient is sent to an occupational therapist or physical therapist for rehabilitation, as opposed to optometrists in vision therapy.

Aiding Overall Rehabilitation

Vision problems that are hidden or neglected, however, can have serious consequences. For one, it can lengthen and impair rehabilitation. Unfortunately, general practitioners underestimate the beneficial role vision care professionals can play in overall rehabilitation. Nevertheless, an increasing number of optometrists are starting to offer vision therapy as an integral part of their practice.

Vision Therapy

Vision therapy provides patients with the right opportunity to develop new neurological pathways relating to the control of the eyes. This relates to the perception and processing of incoming information. Vision therapy can help with reading speed, reading comprehension, attention deficit disorders related to vision conditions, hand eye coordination, balance and brain injury rehabilitation.

As an optometrist, learning and implementing new technologies, as a part of vision therapy, is huge if you want to say ahead of the game. NeuroTracker, a multiple object tracking tool, is one of these technologies.

Enhancing Athletic Performance

Over the past 15 years, Dr. Keith Smithson, O.D., has built up core technologies for vision-related training, testing and health. He’s been using NeuroTracker in his practice for the past 3 years for performance, vision enhancement and concussion rehabilitation.

As the Team Optometrist for the Washington Wizards, Washington Mystics, Washington Spirit and DC United, Dr. Smithson says he’s made great strides with his athletes using NeuroTracker. He stated: “Once these athletes see the difference NeuroTracker is making on the field, they become completely devoted.”

Similarly, Dr. Charles Shidlofksy, O.D., also uses NeuroTracker in his practice, as a spatial training tool. He says: “I always knew that we could enhance the visual system in a way that could help athletes become better performers. NeuroTracker is used in all our athletic training programs.”

Learning-related Visual Problems

Dr. Cameron McCrodan, O.D., uses NeuroTracker as a tool in his reading and learning programs at his visual development clinic. A learning-related visual problem directly affects how we learn, read, or sustain close work. Tracking and other visual problems, however, are often not evaluated during testing for learning disabilities.

Dr. McCrodan uses vision therapy to treat both children and adults who suffer from visual processing deficits. These deficits pertain to eye tracking skills, eye teaming skills, binocular vision, visual perception, and many more.

Post-Concussion Recovery Treatments

Although routinely used for active rehabilitation, the application of NeuroTracker for post-concussion recovery is less well-known. Dr. Smithson treats a very wide range of patients suffering from concussions.

Symptoms can involve optic distortions, ocular-muscular problems, multiple object tracking deficiencies, as well as sensory integration and overload issues. He says, “We have a range of interventions we use specialized for dealing with each of these effects, but NeuroTracker has become an important tool for us in many of our post-concussion recovery sessions.”

It’s clear that visual skills are vital for processing information efficiently. When these skills are dysfunctional, any task can seem difficult and require greater energy than usual. So whether a child is having vision-related learning difficulties, or an athlete is recovering from a concussion, or an elderly individual needs help navigating a busy environment (crossing the street or driving), vision therapy can be a beneficial solution.

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