Data_Sheet_1_Timing Training in Female Soccer Players: Effects on Skilled Movement Performance and Brain Responses.pdf

Although trainers and athletes consider “good timing skills” critical for optimal sport performance, little is known in regard to how sport-specific skills may benefit from timing training. Accordingly, this study investigated the effects of timing training on soccer skill performance and the associated changes in functional brain response in elite- and sub-elite female soccer players. Twenty-five players (mean age 19.5 years; active in the highest or second highest divisions in Sweden), were randomly assigned to either an experimental- or a control group. The experimental group (n = 12) was subjected to a 4-week program (12 sessions) of synchronized metronome training (SMT). We evaluated effects on accuracy and variability in a soccer cross-pass task. The associated brain response was captured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while watching videos with soccer-specific actions. SMT improved soccer cross-pass performance, with a significant increase in outcome accuracy, combined with a decrease in outcome variability. SMT further induced changes in the underlying brain response associated with observing a highly familiar soccer-specific action, denoted as decreased activation in the cerebellum post SMT. Finally, decreased cerebellar activation was associated with improved cross-pass performance and sensorimotor synchronization. These findings suggest a more efficient neural recruitment during action observation after SMT. To our knowledge, this is the first controlled study providing behavioral and neurophysiological evidence that timing training may positively influence soccer-skill, while strengthening the action-perception coupling via enhanced sensorimotor synchronization abilities, and thus influencing the underlying brain responses.

尽管教练员与运动员均认为“精准时序能力”是实现最优运动表现的核心要素，但目前学界对专项运动技能如何通过时序训练获得提升的相关机制仍知之甚少。据此，本研究探讨了时序训练对精英及准精英女子足球运动员足球技能表现的影响，及其伴随的脑功能响应变化。本研究共招募25名女性足球运动员（平均年龄19.5岁，均效力于瑞典足球顶级或次顶级联赛），并将其随机分配至实验组与对照组。实验组（n = 12）接受为期4周、共计12课时的同步节拍器训练（Synchronized Metronome Training, SMT）。本研究通过足球横传任务评估训练对表现准确性与变异性的影响，并在受试者观看足球专项动作视频时，采用功能磁共振成像（functional magnetic resonance imaging, fMRI）采集其脑功能响应数据。结果显示，同步节拍器训练可显著改善足球横传表现：任务结果的准确性显著提升，同时结果变异性降低。此外，该训练可引发与观察高度熟悉的足球专项动作相关的脑响应重塑，具体表现为训练后小脑激活水平下降。进一步分析表明，小脑激活程度的降低与横传表现提升及感觉运动同步能力改善呈显著相关。上述结果表明，同步节拍器训练后，受试者在观察动作时的神经募集效率得以提升。据我们所知，本研究是首个采用对照设计的研究，从行为与神经生理学层面证实时序训练可正向影响足球专项技能，并通过增强感觉运动同步能力强化动作-知觉耦合，进而调控相关脑响应过程。