The Neuroscience of Athletic Performance: The Power of Neuroplasticity and Emotional Transmutation
- Dennis Sanchez
- May 11, 2023
- 8 min read
In the high-stakes world of athletic performance, every edge counts. Athletes and trainers have long sought to understand and harness the power of the mind to enhance performance.
In this comprehensive exploration, we dive deep into the fascinating realm of neuroscience to shed light on how the brain's inherent abilities - such as neuroplasticity and emotional regulation - can be optimized to improve athletic performance.
We also dive into the neuroscience behind mindsets and how a growth mindset nurtures neural plasticity. We explore how athletes' stress responses differ based on their mindset and the impact of these differing mindsets on performance. We also examine the crucial role of practice in skill acquisition and neural adaptation, which is how we improve performance over time.
This piece also discusses the myth of emotional concealment, illustrating how high performers use cognitive reappraisal and emotional transmutation to channel their emotional energy productively.
With an understanding of neuroscience, any athlete can tap into these tools to reach new performance heights.
The Neuroscience of Athletic Performance & Neuroplasticity
Neural Plasticity and Mindsets
Neuroscience Specifics:
Our brain’s ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life is referred to as neural plasticity, or neuroplasticity. This trait allows neurons (nerve cells) in the brain to compensate for injury and disease and to adjust their activities in response to new situations or to changes in their environment.
Our mindset significantly impacts this neural plasticity. A growth mindset, specifically, is when individuals believe that their abilities are developed through dedication and hard work, is associated with an increased willingness to engage in new experiences, which in turn nurtures neural plasticity. A fixed mindset, where individuals believe their basic abilities are static and unchangeable, limits the extent to which they seek out and engage in new experiences, which limits neural plasticity.
Layman's Terms:
Think of the brain as a series of hallways. When we learn something new or have a new experience, we create a new hallway. The more we use that hallway, the stronger it becomes. This is called neuroplasticity. If you believe you can learn and improve (growth mindset), you are more likely to create and strengthen new hallways in your brain. But if you believe you can't change much (fixed mindset), you could either eliminate hallways and/or minimize the creation of new hallways.
Mindsets and Stress Response
Neuroscience Specifics:
The neuroscience of athletic performance involves understanding how the stress response in the brain involves several systems, including the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the amygdala, part of the limbic system involved in emotions and decision-making. When an athlete with a fixed mindset faces a challenge or failure, it triggers stress responses, resulting in the release of cortisol, a hormone that prepares the body for a 'fight or flight' response.
Contrarily, athletes with a growth mindset, who see challenges as opportunities to learn, may not trigger the same stress response. This leads to lower cortisol levels and less perceived stress, helping them to enhance their performance under pressure.
Layman's Terms:
When we face a challenge, our brains decide if we need to fight or run away - it's our stress response. For people who think they can't change much (fixed mindset), challenges are more stressful and they feel like they need to fight or run. But for people who think they can learn and grow (growth mindset), challenges are opportunities, not threats. So, their brains don't trigger the same stress response, and they can handle pressure better (or enhance their performance through emotional transmutation).
The Impact on Athletes' Performance
Mindsets and Skill Acquisition
Neuroscience Specifics:
Skill acquisition involves changes in neural circuits in response to practice. In athletes, a growth mindset facilitates the process of long-term potentiation (LTP), a persistent strengthening of synapses based on recent patterns of activity. This neuroplastic change leads to improved motor skills and athletic performance.
Conversely, a fixed mindset obstructs LTP and the associated skill acquisition. This is because, in a fixed mindset, failures are often seen as a reflection of inherent ability rather than learning opportunities, which discourages further practice and effort.
Layman's Terms:
When we practice something, like shooting a basketball, our brains change to improve skills. This happens more easily if we believe we can learn and improve (growth mindset). If we think we can't change much (fixed mindset), and we miss a shot, we might think we're just bad at basketball and stop trying. But if we think we can improve, we see the missed shot as a part of the growth process.
The Role of Practice in Neural Adaptation
Neuroscience Specifics:
When we practice a skill, what we're really doing is training our brain to better perform that task. The fundamental process behind this is known as Hebbian learning, summarized in the phrase "neurons that fire together, wire together". This means that as we repeatedly practice a skill, the neurons involved in performing that task become more strongly connected.
Furthermore, practice drives a process called long-term potentiation (LTP). LTP is a long-lasting increase in synaptic strength between two neurons resulting from their synchronous firing. Essentially, the synaptic connections between the neurons involved in performing the practiced task become more potent, leading to an increased efficiency in transmitting signals.
In addition, practice also leads to myelination. Myelin is a fatty substance that coats the axons of neurons and allows for faster transmission of neural signals. More practice equals more myelination, which equals faster and more efficient performance of the skill.
Layman's Terms:
When we practice something, we're training our brain to get better at it. Imagine the brain as a big city with lots of roads. These roads are like the connections between brain cells. When we practice, it's like we're driving on the same road over and over again. The more we drive on it, the more direct and smoother that road becomes, allowing us to drive faster and more efficiently. That's how practice improves our skills - by making the 'roads' in our brain more efficient.
Practice and the Formation of Habits
Neuroscience Specifics:
The formation of habits, which are crucial for skilled performance in sports, is heavily dependent on a region of the brain called the basal ganglia, specifically the striatum. With repeated practice, the neural circuits in these regions become more efficient at executing the practiced skill, transitioning the task from conscious effort to automatic execution, a process known as automaticity.
Layman's Terms:
When we practice something a lot, it becomes a habit. It's like learning to ride a bike - at first, we have to think about every pedal stroke, but after a while, we can do it automatically. This is because our brain gets so good at it from practice that it doesn't need to think about it anymore.
The Myth of Emotional Concealment
Effects of Cognitive Reappraisal and Emotional Transmutation
Neuroscience Specifics:
Emotional concealment, or emotional suppression, refers to the act of hiding one's emotional responses. According to neuroscience research, emotional suppression is not a beneficial strategy for performance. It actually requires cognitive effort and energy, increases physiological arousal, and even intensifies the emotional experience, which negatively impacts performance.
In the brain, emotional suppression involves activity in regions like the prefrontal cortex (which is involved in cognitive control and decision making) and the amygdala (which processes emotions). When suppression is used as a regulation strategy, it leads to increased activity in these regions of the mind, which signals a conflict between the experienced and expressed emotion.
Layman's Terms:
The idea that great athletes or high performers hide their emotions to do well is mostly a myth. When people try to hide or suppress their feelings, it can actually make those feelings more intense and use up brainpower that could be used for the task at hand. So, hiding emotions actually makes performance worse, NOT better.
Emotion Use in High Performers
Neuroscience Specifics:
Rather than suppressing emotions, high performers often use emotion regulation strategies that allow them to harness their emotional energy to enhance their performance. These strategies include cognitive reappraisal (changing how we think about a situation to change how we feel about it) and emotional transmutation (transforming one emotion into another).
Cognitive reappraisal and emotional transmutation involve various brain regions, including the prefrontal cortex (for cognitive control), the amygdala (for emotional processing), and the anterior cingulate cortex (for emotional regulation). By effectively using these strategies, high performers channel their emotional responses into motivational energy that enhances their performance.
Layman's Terms:
Great athletes and high performers are more likely to use their emotions to help them perform better, rather than trying to hide them. They do this by changing how they think about a situation or by turning one emotion into another. For example, they might change fear into focus, or frustration into determination. This allows them to use their emotions as a source of energy and motivation, helping them perform at elite levels.
Understanding Emotional Transmutation
Neuroscience Specifics:
Emotional transmutation refers to the process of converting one form of emotional energy into another. In the context of athletic performance, it refers to the conversion of negative emotions, such as fear or anxiety, into positive ones like excitement or determination, which enhances performance.
Neuroscientifically, this process involves various regions of the brain, including the amygdala, the prefrontal cortex, and the anterior cingulate cortex. The amygdala is responsible for emotional processing, while the prefrontal cortex is involved in cognitive control of emotions, and the anterior cingulate cortex helps regulate emotional response.
Layman's Terms:
Emotional transmutation is like turning lemons into lemonade, but with feelings. It's when athletes take negative feelings, like fear or worry, and turn them into positive ones, like excitement or determination, which helps them perform better. This change happens in different parts of the brain that handle our emotions and how we control them.
Emotional Transmutation and Athletic Performance
Neuroscience Specifics:
Great athletes often excel at emotional transmutation. They can effectively manage their emotional states to maintain optimal performance, even under pressure. Neuroscientifically, this ability could be associated with increased activity and connectivity between the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala, enabling better regulation of emotional responses.
Average athletes, on the other hand, may struggle with this emotional transmutation, leading to suboptimal performance, especially in high-stress situations. This could be due to less effective connectivity between the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala, which is what results in less effective emotional regulation.
Layman's Terms:
Great athletes are really good at managing their feelings to help them perform at their best, specially when they're under pressure. This is because parts of their brain are really good at working together to control their emotions. Average athletes struggle with this, and their performance suffers, especially when they're stressed or under pressure. This could be because the parts of their brain that handle emotions aren't working together as effectively. Instead, parts of the brain could actively be used to suppress emotions, which takes effort and energy, instead of focusing that energy and effort to perform at elite levels.
Neural Pathways and Athletic Performance
Necessary Neural Adaptations
Neuroscience Specifics:
For an average athlete to become great, certain neural pathways need to be strengthened. These include pathways involved in motor control, emotional regulation, attention, and decision-making.
Motor Control: Increased practice will lead to stronger connections in motor circuits, involving the motor cortex, basal ganglia, and cerebellum.
Emotional Regulation: Greater emotional control requires improved connections between the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala.
Attention: Enhanced attention and focus require stronger connections in the attention network, particularly involving the prefrontal cortex and the parietal lobe.
Decision-Making: Better decision-making skills require strengthened connections in the prefrontal cortex and other areas involved in executive function.
Layman's Terms:
For an average athlete to become great, there are a few things in their brain that need to change:
Better Motor Control: They need to practice a lot to improve their skills. This strengthens the 'roads' in their brain that control their movements.
Better Emotional Control: They need to get better at managing their emotions, which involves improving the 'communication' between the parts of the brain that handle emotions.
Better Attention: They need to improve their ability to focus, which involves strengthening the 'communication' between the parts of the brain that handle attention.
Better Decision-Making: They need to make better decisions, especially under pressure. This involves improving emotional regulation.
Developing Emotional Regulation Skills
Neuroscience of Emotional Regulation Skill Development
Neuroscience Specifics:
Developing emotional regulation skills involves changing neural pathways in the brain, specifically those connecting the prefrontal cortex (which handles cognitive control) and the amygdala (which processes emotions). This is achieved through consistent practice of emotion regulation strategies, such as mindfulness meditation or cognitive behavioral techniques (Cognitive Reappraisal).
Regular practice of these strategies strengthens the connections between the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala, enhancing the individual's ability to regulate their emotions. This, in turn, leads to excellent athletic performance.
Layman's Terms:
To get better at managing emotions, athletes need to practice certain strategies, like mindfulness or cognitive behavioral techniques. These strategies help strengthen the 'communication' between the parts of the brain that handle emotions and decision-making.
By improving this 'communication', athletes can get better at controlling their emotions, which helps them perform better.
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