Laboratory of Physical Activity Neuroscience, Physical Activity Sciences Postgraduate Program, Salgado de Oliveira University, Niterói 24456-570, Brazil.
Department of Sports Science, University of Beira Interior, 6201-001 Covilhã, Portugal.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Apr 1;18(7):3678. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18073678.
Competitive sports involve physical and cognitive skills. In traditional sports, there is a greater dependence on the development and performance of both motor and cognitive skills, unlike electronic sports (eSports), which depend much more on neurocognitive skills for success. However, little is known about neurocognitive functions and effective strategies designed to develop and optimize neurocognitive performance in eSports athletes. One such strategy is transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), characterized as a weak electric current applied on the scalp to induce prolonged changes in cortical excitability. Therefore, our objective is to propose anodal (a)-tDCS as a performance-enhancing tool for neurocognitive functions in eSports. In this manuscript, we discussed the neurocognitive processes that underlie exceptionally skilled performances in eSports and how tDCS could be used for acute modulation of these processes in eSports. Based on the results from tDCS studies in healthy people, professional athletes, and video game players, it seems that tDCS is applied over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) as a potential performance-enhancing tool for neurocognition in eSports.
竞技体育涉及身体和认知技能。在传统运动中，运动和认知技能的发展和表现更为重要，而电子竞技（eSports）则不同，它的成功更依赖于神经认知技能。然而，对于电子竞技运动员的神经认知功能和旨在发展和优化神经认知表现的有效策略知之甚少。其中一种策略是经颅直流电刺激（tDCS），其特征是在头皮上施加弱电流以诱导皮质兴奋性的长期变化。因此，我们的目标是提出阳极（a）-tDCS 作为电子竞技中神经认知功能的增强工具。在本文中，我们讨论了电子竞技中异常熟练表现所依据的神经认知过程，以及 tDCS 如何用于电子竞技中这些过程的急性调节。基于 tDCS 在健康人群、职业运动员和视频游戏玩家中的研究结果，tDCS 似乎应用于左背外侧前额叶皮层（DLPFC），作为电子竞技中神经认知的潜在增强工具。
