Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 7, 2025
Assessing Corticospinal Excitability During Goal-Directed Reaching Behavior
Published on: December 2, 2022
Reliable electrocortical dynamics of target-directed pass-kicks
Daghan Piskin1, Daniel Büchel1, Tim Lehmann1
1Exercise Science and Neuroscience Unit, Department Sport and Health, Paderborn University, Warburger Straße 100, 33100 Paderborn, Germany.
Abstract:
Football is one of the most played sports in the world and kicking with adequate accuracy increases the likelihood of winning a competition. Although studies with different target-directed movements underline the role of distinctive cortical activity on superior accuracy, little is known about cortical dynamics associated with kicking. Mobile electroencephalography is a popular tool to investigate cortical modulations during movement, however, inherent and artefact-related pitfalls may obscure the reliability of functional sources and their activity. The purpose of this study was therefore to describe consistent cortical dynamics underlying target-directed pass-kicks based on test-retest reliability estimates. Eleven participants performed a target-directed kicking task at two different sessions within one week. Electroencephalography was recorded using a 65-channel mobile system and behavioural data were collected including motion range, acceleration and accuracy performance. Functional sources were identified using independent component analysis and clustered in two steps with the components of first and subsequently both sessions. Reliability estimates of event-related spectral perturbations were computed pixel-wise for participants contributing with components of both sessions. The parieto-occipital and frontal clusters were reproducible for the same majority of the sample at both sessions. Their activity showed consistent alpha desyhronization and theta sychnronisation patterns with substantial reliability estimates revealing visual and attentional demands in different phases of kicking. The findings of our study reveal prominent cortical demands during the execution of a target-directed kick which may be considered in practical implementations and provide promising academic prospects in the comprehension and investigation of cortical activity associated with target-directed movements.
Supplementary Information:
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11571-024-10094-0.
