Peak occipital alpha frequency mediates the relationship between sporting expertise and multiple object tracking performance

A meta-analysis of performance advantages on athletes in multiple object tracking tasks

This study compared the multiple object tracking (MOT) performance of athletes vs. non-athletes and expert athletes vs. novice athletes by systematically reviewing and meta-analyzing the literature. A systematic literature search was conducted using five databases for articles published until July 2024. Healthy people were included, specifically classified as athletes and non-athletes, or experts and novices. Potential sources of heterogeneity were selected using a random-effects model. Moderator analyses were also performed. A total of 23 studies were included in this review. Regarding the overall effect, athletes were significantly better at MOT tasks than non-athletes, and experts performed better than novices. Subgroup analyses showed that expert athletes had a significantly larger effect than novices, and that the type of sport significantly moderated the difference in MOT performance between the two groups. Meta-regression revealed that the number of targets and duration of tracking moderated the differences in performance between experts and novices, but did not affect the differences between athletes and non-athletes. This meta-analysis provides evidence of performance advantages for athletes compared with nonathletes, and experts compared with novices in MOT tasks. Moreover, the two effects were moderated by different factors; therefore, future studies should classify participants more specifically according to sports levels.

Intimate relationships regulate female brain activity in a competitive context: evidence from EEG and functional connectivity analysis

Competition is common in life, and intimate relationships are essential. Understanding how intimate relationships impact an individual's competitive process is crucial. This study explored the impact of competitor gender on female competition using electroencephalography analysis. The results revealed that females exhibited a smaller median of the absolute value of reaction time difference (DRT) between their partners and their competitors when their partners were absent compared to when their partners were present. Additionally, females showed greater average amplitudes of N2 posterior contralateral component (N2pc) and Late Positive Potential (LPP), increased activation of the alpha frequency band, and enhanced theta frequency band functional connectivity between the central parietal lobe and occipital lobe. Furthermore, when competing with individuals of the same gender as opposed to individuals of the opposite gender, females exhibited greater average amplitudes of percentage of wins and N2pc. A significant negative correlation was noted between the DRT and the average wave amplitudes of N2pc and LPP. These findings suggest that females are more engaged in competitive tasks when partners are not present and have improved decision-making when competing with same-gender individuals. This study provides evidence for the influence of lovers on female competition, helping females adapt to social competition and promoting healthy relationships.

Peak occipital alpha frequency mediates the relationship between sporting expertise and multiple object tracking performance

BACKGROUND

Multiple object tracking (MOT) is often used as a lab-based paradigm for investigating goal-driven attention as an indicator for "real-world" attention in tasks such as sport. When exploring MOT performance in the context of sporting expertise, we typically observe that individuals with sporting expertise outperform non-sporting individuals. There are a number of general explanations for performance differences such as cognitive transfer effects; however, the potential neurophysiological mechanisms explaining the relationship between sporting expertise and performance differences in MOT are not clear. Based on the role occipital alpha (posterior oscillations usually around 8-12 Hz) has been shown to have in visuospatial attention, the aim of this study was to examine whether individual differences in occipital peak alpha frequency (PAF) mediate the relationship between sporting expertise and performance in two object tracking tasks: a standard MOT task and a visuomotor-controlled object tracking task (multiple object avoidance [MOA]).

METHOD

Using electroencephalography (EEG), participants, who either played sport competitively or did not, had their posterior PAF measured at rest (eyes closed) across a 2-min window. They completed the two tasks separately from the resting EEG measures.

RESULTS

Those who engaged in sport performed better in the MOT and MOA tasks and had higher PAF. Higher PAF predicted superior MOT performance. The mediation analysis revealed that sporting individuals had significantly higher PAF, and this was in turn related to superior MOT performance.

CONCLUSIONS

It is suggested that PAF is a possible neurophysiological mediating mechanism as to why sporting individuals have superior MOT performance. There was no evidence that PAF mediated the relationship between sporting expertise and visuomotor MOA performance. Explanations and implications are discussed, and unanswered questions are proposed.