Noninvasive Brain Stimulation and Neural Entrainment Enhance Athletic Performance—a Review

Abstract

Brain stimulation and neural entrainment relying on noninvasive techniques, applied to sports, might enhance brain activity in healthy athletes to improve their physical performance. In the past, several studies have employed stimulation procedures, either during athletic training or during separate sessions, to enhance physical and mental performance. Here, we review the available physiological and behavioral studies to clarify if and under which conditions noninvasive brain stimulation and neural entrainment might enhance athletic performance. Even though many studies suffer from small sample size, the results, compared to traditional training procedures, suggest advantages with regard to motor learning, motion perception, muscular strength, or decrements in muscle fatigue. Further, these techniques seem to be useful in fine-tuning crucial aspects of competitive sports such as speeding up the learning rate of specific motor skills. Although more research is needed to fully understand the effects of noninvasive brain stimulation and neural entrainment on athletic performance, we conclude that these emerging techniques are promising tools to enhance physical and mental performances in sports.

Performance Optimization in Sport: A Psychophysiological Approach

“…Beyond NFB training, there are other methods to improve skills and motor performance based on neuroplasticity 38,39,40 . Non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques facilitate motor skill learning by increasing the corticospinal excitability.…”

“…Evidence from recent studies suggests links between tDCS induced corticospinal excitability, skill learning, and motor performance 40 . In a golf putting task, it was shown that tDCS applied over the left side of prefrontal cortex facilitates implicit motor learning.…”

“…In a golf putting task, it was shown that tDCS applied over the left side of prefrontal cortex facilitates implicit motor learning. As regards tRNS, this is a form of stimulation applied at random frequencies between 0.1 and 640 Hz, which can lead to an increase in performance of implicit motor or perceptual learning tasks 40 .…”

Neurocognitive Enhancement: Applications and Ethical Issues

“…Advances in neuroscience suggest that sports performance can be enhanced by using methods and techniques that modify brain activity, thus leading to the improvement of athletes' mental state and focus, as well as encouraging motor learning (Vargo et al, 2014). Recently, the potential and effectiveness of noninvasive brain stimulation techniques (i.e., neuroscientific intervention techniques, able to safely induce neuromodulation or neurostimulation effects on cortical structures and networks)-and of combined neurofeedback and mental training programs for pursuing such goals and for optimizing athletes' cognitive and behavioral performances-have been more and more explicitly explored (Balconi, Fronda, Venturella, & Crivelli, 2017;Balconi, Pala, Crivelli, & Milone, 2019;Borducchi et al, 2016;Colzato, Nitsche, & Kibele, 2017;Crivelli, Fronda, Venturella, & Balconi, 2019;Davis, 2013;Lewthwaite & Wulf, 2017). While the attention given to potential applications of noninvasive stimulation and neuromodulation techniques likely followed the need for novel models and methods for intervention and the will to try and overcome limitations and ethical issues raised by first tentative neuroenhancement approaches based on chemicals and psychoactive drugs, it has to be acknowledged that such potential and its practicalethical implications in the field of sports practice is still a matter of debate.…”

Editorial Special Topic: Enhancing Brain and Cognition via Brain Stimulation

“…Lastly, Colzato et al (2017) suggest that brain stimulation techniques seem to be useful in fine-tuning crucial aspects of competitive sports such as speeding up the learning rate of specific motor skills.…”