the Informer

ZEROTOBOSTON.COM

Characterized by exceptional physical dexterity, the edge that athletes have over non-athletes may also extend to mental focus.

According to a New York Times article, a recent study performed at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign proved the mental focus ability of student athletes over non-athlete collegians during a virtual traffic-dodging experiment.

The results of the experiment illustrated that a higher success rate for student athletes crossing the virtual street was not because the athletes were bigger, better or faster than the non-athletes.

“What they did do was glance along the street a few more times than the non athletes, each time gathering slightly more data and processing it more speedily and accurately than the other students,” according to the New York Times article.

“They [athletes] didn’t move faster,” said Art Kramer, the director of the Beckman Institute and a leader in the study of exercise and cognition, who oversaw the research. “But it looks like they thought faster,” he said.

Sports emphasize the importance of mental conditioning for athletes in order to yield success on and off the field.

When an athlete is “in the zone,” the synchronization of mind and body allows the individual to excel beyond mental and physical challenges; the results of the revelatory study performed at the Beckman Institute show exciting new evidence that skills conditioned by athletes may impact their mental dexterity and the way they think entirely.

Rene Marois, director of the Human Information Processing Laboratory at Vanderbilt commented on the experiment.

“To the extent that athletes, in their sport, must routinely make split-second decisions in often very complex environments (e.g., whether to pass or kick the incoming soccer ball), it would make sense to me that they would have superior skill sets in processing the fast-paced information to successfully cross the street,” Marois said.

Immaculate coordination of mental and physical strength is what gives athletes an edge over everyone else, although it is still debated as to how much these traits can be credited to Mother Nature versus practice and hard work.

A modern variation of the age-old chicken and egg paradox asks, “Which came first: the athlete or the athleticism?”

The answer to this question is debatable, but I believe the solution to be an imbalanced combination of nature and nurture.

In my opinion, athleticism and exceptional mental focus is manifested by a 3:1 ratio of nurture to natural ability.

For instance, a person may be born with an IQ of 180, but without an education, practice and nurturing their full potential success may never be achieved.

The strategic mental process and consequent success exhibited by athletes in the experiment at the Beckman Institute when crossing the street, could perhaps be applicable when taking a difficult test, facing a job interview or overcoming any challenge in life.

“The constant multitasking and information processing demanded by athletics increase both the capacity of the athletes’ mental information processing systems and their speed,” according to the New York Times article.

Future research will delve deeper into the subject of athletes and brain focus, but in the meantime, its a no brainer that sports are beneficial for the body and mind and can help people keep their cool in everyday situations.