Li Dan, Elbanna Hatem, Lin Fang-Yi, Lu Chieh-Ju, Chen Li-Ju, Lu Guo, Yu Chien-Lin, Wang Kuo Pin
College of Leisure and Social Sports, Jilin Sport University, Changchun, China.
Department of Sports Psychology, Faculty of Sport Science, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt.
Front Psychol. 2025 May 19;16:1452443. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1452443. eCollection 2025.
Understanding the neuromotor processes underlying successful and unsuccessful performance in lower limb movements, such as football kicking, is essential for athletes. However, further investigation is needed to determine whether lower activation of the prefrontal and central cortices, which are associated with motor programming, such as motor planning and motor control, corresponds to higher degrees of psychomotor performance in a difficult task. To address this issue, this within-subject pilot study aimed to investigate neuromotor processes in skilled football players performing penalty kicks under a difficult condition.
Ten skilled football players were recruited and asked to perform 30 kicks under a difficult condition where the target size was adjusted to maintain a kicking success rate between 40 and 60% for each player while we recorded EEG data during motor preparation. Afterwards, EEG power in the 8-13 Hz frequency band was analyzed at frontal (Fz) and central (Cz) regions before action.
The main result indicated that successful penalty kicks were associated with lower 8-13 Hz power at frontal and central regions before action, suggesting efficient neural activation for motor planning and control during motor preparation.
These findings support the model of attention allocation and the psychomotor efficiency hypothesis, aligning with similar neuromotor processes observed in golf studies. Overall, this study highlights the critical role of motor planning and control in successful athletic performance.
了解诸如足球踢腿等下肢运动中成功与失败表现背后的神经运动过程，对运动员来说至关重要。然而，前额叶和中央皮质的较低激活与运动编程（如运动计划和运动控制）相关，在困难任务中这种较低激活是否对应更高程度的心理运动表现，仍需进一步研究。为解决这一问题，这项受试者内的初步研究旨在调查熟练足球运动员在困难条件下进行点球时的神经运动过程。
招募了10名熟练的足球运动员，要求他们在困难条件下进行30次踢腿，在此条件下调整目标大小，以使每位运动员的踢腿成功率保持在40%至60%之间，同时我们在运动准备期间记录脑电图（EEG）数据。之后，在动作前分析额叶（Fz）和中央（Cz）区域8 - 13赫兹频段的脑电功率。
主要结果表明，成功的点球与动作前额叶和中央区域较低的8 - 13赫兹功率相关，这表明在运动准备期间，运动计划和控制有高效的神经激活。
这些发现支持了注意力分配模型和心理运动效率假说，与高尔夫研究中观察到的类似神经运动过程一致。总体而言，本研究突出了运动计划和控制在成功运动表现中的关键作用。
