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Brain imaging is a relatively new science first developed in the 1980s that used magnetic fields and radio waves to produce high quality images of brain structures. Scientists learned that blood flow changes in the brain could be measured by a technique called Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), initially referred to as BOLD fMRI (meaning Blood- Oxygen-Level-Dependent fMRI). Since the 1990s, fMRI has become the dominant method of brain mapping replacing PET and SPECT scans in part because of its low invasiveness and lack of radiation exposure. FMRI uses the properties of oxygenated and deoxygeneated hemoglobin to see blood flow changes in the brain that are associated with specific neural activity and as such it enables researchers to clearly view changes in small brain structures such as the amygdela.

FMRI provides both structural and functional information about the brain as the subject / athlete is asked to engage in specific thoughts, feelings, and action. Although fMRI methodology is exploding in nearly every discipline that seeks to understand the brain and human behavior, sport scientists have been slow to move into this area of research, in part because of their lack of familiarity with the technique and the related expense associated with fMRI scanning methodology. One exception is the work of Dr. Hap Davis, a clinical sport

psychologist in Calgary, Alberta, who for many years has been the sport psychologist for Swim Canada.

Davis and colleagues (2007) published what may be the first study using fMRI methodology to better understand elite athlete performance. As a psychologist who had worked with many sports, Davis observed that numerous athletes “quit”, after underachieving and experiencing the disappointment of failure. They simply could not bounce back. Because Davis had expertise in human depression he hypothesized that this poor performance following disappointment might be caused by negative emotions that impacted the motor system. After consulting with neuroscientists such as Helen Mayberg at Emory University and Mario Liotti at Simon Fraser University, experts on the neuroscience of depression, Davis et al. studied 13 Canadian Olympic level swimmers, some of whom were successful and some of whom experienced disappointment in their performance. The researchers looked at brain activity elicited by two video clips: one where the swimmer failed and a control video of a different swimmer. When the swimmers viewed their own failed performance, the emotional centers in the brain resembled subjects experiencing “clinical” depression, a rather startling finding. Negative emotions correlated with fMRI activity in the anterior cingulate and parahippocampal gyrus. Negative affect also resulted in reduced activity in the medial frontal cortex, parietal, sensori-motor, and primary motor cortices - areas that plan essential body movements needed to swim. When Davis intervened with a twenty minute cognitive behavioral intervention program where athletes reflected on what they would modify in future performances, there was a significant reversal of negative affect and corresponding BOLD signals. Davis et al. hypothesized that negative emotions associated with failure may inhibit the motor cortex and subsequently have an impact on performance. For the past two years Davis has teamed up with me at the Boston University Imaging Center to conduct a series of studies using fMRI methodology on elite athletes (e.g., Davis, Zaichkowsky & Kim, 2007). This research has also added diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in order to investigate the connections between the emotional system of the brain and the motor-planning regions. It is also possible that this research will enable us to determine whether specific short-term interventions at the playing venue can “jump start” the prefrontal and motor cortex of the brain. These interventions need not be traditional cognitive behavioral intervention, rather it is possible that intense physical activity may also bring about a positive result.

Although our fMRI studies are on-going, several findings to date as well as the research from related neuroscience areas offer the following insight relevant to applied sport psychology: The frontal lobe of the brain and the amygdale make an impact on quickness of response. As such, athletes need to engage in competition preparation that “primes” the motor cortex in the brain. This “priming” should include mind engaging activities such as reading aloud, doing puzzles, crosswords, and related critical thinking activity. The anterior cingulated cortex is associated with emotional reactions so athletes need to suppress negative emotions, and focus on full enjoyment of the moment, staying positive even under adversity. We know that negative thinking, fear, and self-doubt inhibits the motor system and subsequently, skilled performance. Athletes need to develop and practice a discipline of the mind that gives them freedom from expectations of others-family, friends, and in the case of the Olympics, their country. They must focus solely on the task at hand and lose themselves in the task.

In conclusion, functional magnetic resonance imaging has exciting potential application for sport psychology researchers and practitioners. The brain and central nervous system has

long been known as the “black box”, because scientists could not look inside the brain. fMRI methodology now allows scientists to look at brain activity during thinking, feeling and acting in “real time”. The mystery surrounding human performance may slowly disappear with future researchers using this methodology. Information gained from brain scanning research should enable researchers to develop biofeedback and neurofeedback training programs that will serve as strength and conditioning programs for the mind. The technology of biofeedback and neurofeedback enables sport scientists to utilize the two essential conditions necessary for athletes to acquire skill through feedback and practice. Further, biofeedback enables sport scientists to quantify developmental changes in self-regulation skills. It is this information that should convince coaches, athletes and sport administrators that sport psychology is an essential sport science.