MilanClass
Guru
Newly released research
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/10/science/top-soccer-players-are-seen-to-have-superior-brain-function.html
http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/04/08/can-psychological-testing-predict-soccer-stars/37067.html
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120405092919.htm
More Brainpower Seen in Soccer’s Top Scorers
By SINDYA N. BHANOO
Brawny athletes are rarely brainy, or so the stereotype goes. But a new study reports that soccer players actually have superior executive functions, the brain processes responsible for planning and abstract thinking. And the more elite the player, the better these functions.
The ability is called game intelligence, and it’s “very, very fundamental to the way we make decisions,” said an author of the new study, Predrag Petrovic, a neuroscientist at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. “It’s a way of quickly working with information and making decisions about the environment.”
Dr. Petrovic and his colleagues discuss their findings in the journal PLoS One.
The researchers measured executive function using a standardized test called D-KEFS, which assesses skills in problem solving, creativity and rule making. The highest scores went to soccer players from Sweden’s most elite league, followed by players from a lower division. Nonplayers who were tested finished behind both groups of players. The differences were significant, Dr. Petrovic said. Elite players performed in the top 2 percent when compared with the general population.
The researchers tracked some of the players for two seasons, and found that those with higher test scores had more goals and assists.
It isn’t clear whether athletes acquire these functions over time, or whether they are inherited.
“Our hypothesis is that it’s both,” Dr. Petrovic said. “You can’t become a good player if you don’t have strong executive functions, but at the same time you can always improve executive function if you train.”
Now we all now that psychological testing has shown Africans to be of considerably lower intelligence than everyone else in the world. Here is a table of IQ's from around the world. Now look at the countries at the bottom of the list.
The empirical evidence has been there for years - Africans sides performing poorly at the world cup, Africans producing lousy footballers compared to their population, and African players ruining traditionally European and North America national teams. Now the scientific evidence is there. I don't know what more needs to be pointed out before coaches stop picking African players.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/10/science/top-soccer-players-are-seen-to-have-superior-brain-function.html
http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/04/08/can-psychological-testing-predict-soccer-stars/37067.html
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120405092919.htm
More Brainpower Seen in Soccer’s Top Scorers
By SINDYA N. BHANOO
Brawny athletes are rarely brainy, or so the stereotype goes. But a new study reports that soccer players actually have superior executive functions, the brain processes responsible for planning and abstract thinking. And the more elite the player, the better these functions.
The ability is called game intelligence, and it’s “very, very fundamental to the way we make decisions,” said an author of the new study, Predrag Petrovic, a neuroscientist at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. “It’s a way of quickly working with information and making decisions about the environment.”
Dr. Petrovic and his colleagues discuss their findings in the journal PLoS One.
The researchers measured executive function using a standardized test called D-KEFS, which assesses skills in problem solving, creativity and rule making. The highest scores went to soccer players from Sweden’s most elite league, followed by players from a lower division. Nonplayers who were tested finished behind both groups of players. The differences were significant, Dr. Petrovic said. Elite players performed in the top 2 percent when compared with the general population.
The researchers tracked some of the players for two seasons, and found that those with higher test scores had more goals and assists.
It isn’t clear whether athletes acquire these functions over time, or whether they are inherited.
“Our hypothesis is that it’s both,” Dr. Petrovic said. “You can’t become a good player if you don’t have strong executive functions, but at the same time you can always improve executive function if you train.”
Now we all now that psychological testing has shown Africans to be of considerably lower intelligence than everyone else in the world. Here is a table of IQ's from around the world. Now look at the countries at the bottom of the list.
The empirical evidence has been there for years - Africans sides performing poorly at the world cup, Africans producing lousy footballers compared to their population, and African players ruining traditionally European and North America national teams. Now the scientific evidence is there. I don't know what more needs to be pointed out before coaches stop picking African players.
