Brain slow potentials reflecting successful shooting performance

Preparatory brain activity from frontal, centro-lateral, and occipital areas were recorded from top-level rifle shooters during shooting performance. The aim of the study was to examine the relation of brain slow potentials to qualitative (rifle holding) and quantitative (hit) aspects of superior shooting performance. For this purpose, a typology of slow potentials (SPs) was developed. The resulting SP types were used for unraveling the associations between the electrocortical activity and behavioral output. The main finding was that frontal positivity was associated with successful performance, but only if the central-right SP was more negative than the central-left one. This finding was explained as showing that, in the case of superior performance, a shooter is able to refrain from irrelevant motor activity (frontal positivity) and concomitantly concentrate on the visual-spatial processing (right-sided negativity). In all, the present experiment suggests that the SPs are consistently related to the covert aspects of shooting performance, which lack an overt manifestation. At the practical level, this means that the SPs provide a tool for accessing information concerning the optimal balance between visual-spatial targeting and motor activity which can make a valuable contribution to the understanding of superior shooting performance.