[Warning] "Be more conscious!!" destroys athletes. The "lies of common sense" revealed by sports neurology
"Be more conscious of your knees."
"Pull your shoulder blades together."
"Use your hip joints."
"Be conscious of your form."
These are words used quite naturally in sports settings.
However, from the perspective of sports neurology, this instruction to "be conscious!!" can actually lower performance rather than draw out an athlete's true potential.
Neither humans nor animals move by "consciousness"
First, what must be understood is that animals, including humans, do not move their bodies through consciousness.
Movement is alwaysa goal-oriented activity to achieve a purpose.
A lion does not chase prey thinking, "Let's extend my hip joints more."
A cat does not jump while being conscious of "let's pull my shoulder blades together."
Soccer players, too, originally have their brains organize optimal movements for the purposes of "dribbling past an opponent," "scoring a goal," or "stealing the ball."
What supports those movements is
sensory input
the cerebellum
the basal ganglia
the brainstem
the spinal cord
and the neural networks they constitute.
In other words, movement is not about manipulating muscles one by one, but rather"a process where the nervous system continues to create optimal solutions to achieve a purpose.".
When "consciousness" interferes, movement changes
However,
"Be conscious of your knees"
"Swing your arms"
"Pull your shoulder blades together"
The moment you are told these things, the brain's information processing changes.
Originally, it was
Goal → Environmental Information → Automatic Motor Control
but it changes to
Goal → Monitoring Body Parts → Movement
instead.
In other words, the activity of the cerebral cortex, which monitors the body, intervenes in motor control that is supposed to be automated.
In motor learning, there is a concept that explains this called the Constrained Action Hypothesis.
Many studies have reported that internal cueing, which directs attention to body parts, hinders automated movement, while external cueing, which directs attention to the environment or goals, is more likely to elicit natural movement.
*Cueing is the act of a coach designing where a player directs their attention.
・Internal Cueing: Directing attention to body parts or muscles (e.g., "bend your knees," "pinch your shoulder blades")
・External Cueing: Directing attention to the environment or the results of an action (e.g., "push off the ground," "shake the goal net," "get behind the opponent")
The more time you have, the more "consciousness" gets in the way
This phenomenon is thought to be particularly likely to occur in sports with little time pressure.
For example,
golf
darts
basketball free throws
soccer penalty kicks
before a baseball pitch
and so on.
Because there is time,
"How is your wrist?"
"What about your elbow angle?"
"Is there tension in your shoulders?"
"Is your form correct?"
This creates time spent monitoring the body itself.
As a result, the cerebral cortex over-intervenes in the neural circuits that were previously under automatic control, which can cause movements to become stiff.
On the other hand,
soccer
tennis rallies
rugby
martial arts
In sports where opponents, the ball, and the space are constantly changing, there is almost no room to be consciously aware of the body in detail.
Attention naturally shifts toward the environment.
That is why the phenomenon occurs where players who can play naturally during a match suddenly become awkward during penalty kicks or free throws.
This is not because they are "mentally weak," but ratherthe brain's information processing mode may have changed.
A phenomenon prone to occurring because we are human
Behavioral inhibition by the frontal lobe exists in animals as well.
However, at present,
"the phenomenon where movements become awkward as a result of being too conscious of form"
has mainly been confirmed in humans.
Humans possess
language
metacognition
a highly developed cerebral cortex
.
That is precisely why,
"Let's raise the elbow more,"
"Let's bend the knees,"
"Let's fix the form."
You can monitor your own body in detail.
This ability was a major advantage in human evolution.
However, in sports, that ability can excessively interfere with automated motor control and degrade performance.
Current science cannot definitively state that it 'exists only in humans,' but it is considered a phenomenon that is particularly prone to occurring in humans, who have highly developed linguistic self-monitoring of the body accordingly.
What coaches should really change
What athletes should be conscious of is not their body.
What they should look at is,
the opponent
the ball
the space
the timing
gravity
the ground
.
The brain receives information from the environment and organizes the optimal movement itself to achieve that goal.
Therefore, the coach's role is not to 'manipulate the body.'It is to design an environment where the brain can naturally elicit optimal movement.
The Neuro Dynamics Method that I advocate is also based on this way of thinking.
Rather than aiming to fix form, it emphasizes designing inputs and environments where the brain can self-organize optimal movement.
Detailed concepts and practical examples are introduced on the Neuro Dynamics Method official website.
References
Wulf G, McNevin NH, Shea CH. The automaticity of complex motor skill learning as a function of attentional focus. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. 2001.
Wulf G. Attentional focus and motor learning: A review of 15 years. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology. 2013.
Beilock SL, Carr TH. On the fragility of skilled performance: What governs choking under pressure? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 2001.
Wolpert DM, Ghahramani Z, Jordan MI. An internal model for sensorimotor integration. Science. 1995.
Krakauer JW, Hadjiosif AM, Xu J, Wong AL, Haith AM. Motor Learning. Comprehensive Physiology. 2019.