J Physiol Physiology in Press
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

J Physiol Volume 586, Number 1, 131-139, January 1, 2008 DOI: 10.1113/jphysiol.2007.141630
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplemental Data
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
586/1/131    most recent
jphysiol.2007.141630v1
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Babiloni, C.
Right arrow Articles by Eusebi, F.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Babiloni, C.
Right arrow Articles by Eusebi, F.
Related Collections
Right arrow Neuroscience

SPECIAL SECTION RELATED PAPERS

Golf putt outcomes are predicted by sensorimotor cerebral EEG rhythms

 Claudio Babiloni1,2,3, Claudio Del Percio3,4, Marco Iacoboni1, Francesco Infarinato4, Roberta Lizio4, Nicola Marzano1,4, Gianluca Crespi5, Federica Dassù5, Mirella Pirritano4, Michele Gallamini6 and Fabrizio Eusebi1,4,7

1 Dipartimento di Fisiologia Umana e Farmacologia, Università ‘La Sapienza’, Roma, Italy
2 Associazione Fatebenefratelli per la ricerca (AFaR) S. Giovanni Calibita- Isola Tiberina, Roma, Italy
3 IRCCS ‘San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli’, AFaR, Brescia, Italy
4 Istituto di Medicina e Scienza dello Sport - CONI Servizi, Via dei Campi Sportivi 46, Roma, Italy
5 Federazione Italiana Golf, Fig, Roma, Italy
6 RGM, Genova, Italy
7 Neuromed I.R.C.C.S., Via Atinense 18, 86077 Pozzilli Isernia, Italy

It is not known whether frontal cerebral rhythms of the two hemispheres are implicated in fine motor control and balance. To address this issue, electroencephalographic (EEG) and stabilometric recordings were simultaneously performed in 12 right-handed expert golfers. The subjects were asked to stand upright on a stabilometric force platform placed at a golf green simulator while playing about 100 golf putts. Balance during the putts was indexed by body sway area. Cortical activity was indexed by the power reduction in spatially enhanced alpha (8–12 Hz) and beta (13–30 Hz) rhythms during movement, referred to as the pre-movement period. It was found that the body sway area displayed similar values in the successful and unsuccessful putts. In contrast, the high-frequency alpha power (about 10–12 Hz) was smaller in amplitude in the successful than in the unsuccessful putts over the frontal midline and the arm and hand region of the right primary sensorimotor area; the stronger the reduction of the alpha power, the smaller the error of the unsuccessful putts (i.e. distance from the hole). These results indicate that high-frequency alpha rhythms over associative, premotor and non-dominant primary sensorimotor areas subserve motor control and are predictive of the golfer's performance.

(Received 27 July 2007; accepted after revision 10 October 2007; first published online 18 October 2007)
Corresponding author C. Del Percio: Dipartmento di Fisiologia Umana e Farmacologia, Università ‘La Sapienza’, P.le A. Moro 5, 00185 Roma, Italy. Email: claudio.delpercio{at}uniroma1.it

This paper has online supplemental material.






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2008 The Physiological Society.