Abstract
The contribution of cortical activity (e.g. EEG recordings) in various brain regions to motor control during goal-directed manipulative tasks using lower limbs remains unexplored. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to determine the magnitude of associations between EEG-derived brain activity and soccer kicking parameters. Twenty-four under-17 players performed an instep kicking task (18 m from the goal) aiming to hit 1 × 1 m targets allocated in the goalpost upper corners in the presence of a goalkeeper. Using a portable 64-channel EEG system, brain oscillations in delta, theta, alpha, beta and gamma frequency bands were determined at the frontal, motor, parietal and occipital regions separately for three phases of the kicks: preparatory, approach and immediately prior to ball contact. Movement kinematic measures included segmental linear and relative velocities, angular joint displacement and velocities. Mean radial error and ball velocity were assumed as outcome indicators. A significant influence of frontal theta power immediately prior to ball contact was observed in the variance of ball velocity (R2 = 35%, P = 0.01) while the expression of occipital alpha component recorded during the preparatory phase contributed to the mean radial error (R2 = 20%, P = 0.049). Ankle eversion angle at impact moment likely mediated the association between frontal theta power and subsequent ball velocity (β = 0.151, P = 0.06). The present analysis showed that the brain signalling at cortical level may be determinant in movement control, ball velocity and accuracy when performing kick attempts from the edge of penalty area.
Trial registration number #RBR-8prx2m—Brazilian Registry of Clinical Trials ReBec.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The results reported are presented clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification, or inappropriate data manipulation. The raw data/spreadsheets used in current paper has been uploaded and made publicly available at Open Science Framework research workflow (https://osf.io/4jdqg/).
References
Augustus S, Hudson PE, Smith N (2021) The effect of approach velocity on pelvis and kick leg angular momentum conversion strategies during football instep kicking. J Sports Sci 39:2279–2288. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2021.1929008
Babiloni C, Del Percio C, Iacoboni M, Infarinato F, Lizio R, Marzano N, Crespi G, Dassù F, Pirritano M, Gallamini M, Eusebi F (2008) Golf putt outcomes are predicted by sensorimotor cerebral EEG rhythms. J Physiol 586:131–139. https://doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.2007.141630
Barbieri FA, Gobbi LTB, Santiago PRP, Cunha SA (2015) Dominant–non-dominant asymmetry of kicking a stationary and rolling ball in a futsal context. J Sports Sci 33:1411–1419. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2014.990490
Baumeister J, Reinecke K, Cordes M, Lerch C, Weiss M (2010) Brain activity in goal-directed movements in a real compared to a virtual environment using the Nintendo Wii. Neurosci Lett 481:47–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2010.06.051
Baumeister J, Reinecke K, Liesen H, Weiss M (2008) Cortical activity of skilled performance in a complex sports related motor task. Eur J Appl Physiol 104:625–631. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-008-0811-x
Beatty J, Greenberg A, Deibler WP, O’Hanlon JF (1974) Operant control of occipital theta rhythm affects performance in a radar monitoring task. Science 183:871–873. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.183.4127.871
Budnik-Przybylska D, Kastrau A, Jasik P, Kaźmierczak M, Doliński Ł, Syty P, Łabuda M, Przybylski J, di Fronso S, Bertollo M (2021) Neural oscillation during mental imagery in sport: an olympic sailor case study. Front Hum Neurosci 15:669422. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2021.669422
Castermans T, Duvinage M, Cheron G, Dutoit T (2014) About the cortical origin of the low-delta and high-gamma rhythms observed in EEG signals during treadmill walking. Neurosci Lett 561:166–170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2013.12.059
Cheron G, Petit G, Cheron J, Leroy A, Cebolla A, Cevallos C, Petieau M, Hoellinger T, Zarka D, Clarinval A-M, Dan B (2016) Brain oscillations in sport: toward EEG biomarkers of performance. Front Psychol 7:246–246. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00246
Christie S, di Fronso S, Bertollo M, Werthner P (2017) Individual alpha peak frequency in ice hockey shooting performance. Front Psychol 8:762–762. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00762
Chuang LY, Huang CJ, Hung TM (2013) The differences in frontal midline theta power between successful and unsuccessful basketball free throws of elite basketball players. Int J Psychophysiol 90:321–328. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2013.10.002
Collette F, Van der Linden M (2002) Brain imaging of the central executive component of working memory. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 26:105–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0149-7634(01)00063-x
Collins D, Powell G, Davies I (1991) Cerebral activity prior to motion task performance: an electroencephalographic study. J Sports Sci 9:313–324. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640419108729892
Cooke A (2013) Readying the head and steadying the heart: a review of cortical and cardiac studies of preparation for action in sport. Int Rev Sport Exerc Psychol 6:122–138. https://doi.org/10.1080/1750984X.2012.724438
Cordones I, Gómez CM, Escudero M (2013) Cortical dynamics during the preparation of antisaccadic and prosaccadic eye movements in humans in a gap paradigm. PLoS ONE 8:e63751. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0063751
Crews DJ, Landers DM (1993) Electroencephalographic measures of attentional patterns prior to the golf putt. Med Sci Sports Exerc 25:116–126. https://doi.org/10.1249/00005768-199301000-00016
de Klerk CC, Johnson MH, Southgate V (2015) An EEG study on the somatotopic organisation of sensorimotor cortex activation during action execution and observation in infancy. Dev Cogn Neurosci 15:1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2015.08.004
De Witt JK, Hinrichs RN (2012) Mechanical factors associated with the development of high ball velocity during an instep soccer kick. Sports Biomech 11:382–390. https://doi.org/10.1080/14763141.2012.661757
Del Percio C, Babiloni C, Bertollo M, Marzano N, Iacoboni M, Infarinato F, Lizio R, Stocchi M, Robazza C, Cibelli G, Comani S, Eusebi F (2009) Visuo-attentional and sensorimotor alpha rhythms are related to visuo-motor performance in athletes. Hum Brain Mapp 30:3527–3540. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.20776
Delorme A, Makeig S (2004) EEGLAB: an open source toolbox for analysis of single-trial EEG dynamics including independent component analysis. J Neurosci Methods 134:9–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneumeth.2003.10.009
Delorme A, Sejnowski T, Makeig S (2007) Enhanced detection of artifacts in EEG data using higher-order statistics and independent component analysis. Neuroimage 34:1443–1449. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2006.11.004
di Fronso S, Robazza C, Filho E, Bortoli L, Comani S, Bertollo M (2016) Neural markers of performance states in an olympic athlete: an EEG case study in air-pistol shooting. J Sports Sci Med 15:214–222
di Fronso S, Fiedler P, Tamburro G, Haueisen J, Bertollo M, Comani S (2019) Dry EEG in sports sciences: a fast and reliable tool to assess individual alpha peak frequency changes induced by physical effort. Front Neurosci 13:982. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2019.00982
Doppelmayr M, Finkenzeller T, Sauseng P (2008) Frontal midline theta in the pre-shot phase of rifle shooting: Differences between experts and novices. Neuropsychologia 46:1463–1467. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2007.12.026
Duru AD, Assem M (2018) Investigating neural efficiency of elite karate athletes during a mental arithmetic task using EEG. Cogn Neurodyn 12:95–102. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11571-017-9464-y
Ermutlu N, Yücesir I, Eskikurt G, Temel T, İşoğlu-Alkaç Ü (2015) Brain electrical activities of dancers and fast ball sports athletes are different. Cogn Neurodyn 9:257–263. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11571-014-9320-2
Fiedler P, Pedrosa P, Griebel S, Fonseca C, Vaz F, Supriyanto E, Zanow F, Haueisen J (2015) Novel multipin electrode cap system for dry electroencephalography. Brain Topogr 28:647–656. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10548-015-0435-5
Figueroa PJ, Leite NJ, Barros RML (2003) A flexible software for tracking of markers used in human motion analysis. Comput Methods Programs Biomed 72:155–165. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0169-2607(02)00122-0
Gallicchio G, Ring C (2020) The quiet eye effect: a test of the visual and postural-kinematic hypotheses. Sport Exerc Perform Psychol 9:143–159. https://doi.org/10.1037/spy0000162
Gasser T, Sroka L, Möcks J (1985) The transfer of EOG activity into the EEG for eyes open and closed. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol 61:181–193. https://doi.org/10.1016/0013-4694(85)91058-2
Goldman RI, Stern JM, Engel J Cohen MS, (2002) Simultaneous EEG and fMRI of the alpha rhythm. NeuroReport 13:2487–2492. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.wnr.0000047685.08940.d0
Goncharova II, McFarland DJ, Vaughan TM, Wolpaw JR (2003) EMG contamination of EEG: spectral and topographical characteristics. Clin Neurophysiol 114:1580–1593. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1388-2457(03)00093-2
Gwin JT, Gramann K, Makeig S, Ferris DP (2010) Removal of movement artifact from high-density EEG recorded during walking and running. J Neurophysiol 103:3526–3534. https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00105.2010
Händel B, Haarmeier T (2009) Cross-frequency coupling of brain oscillations indicates the success in visual motion discrimination. Neuroimage 45:1040–1046. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.12.013
Hatfield BD, Haufler AJ, Hung TM, Spalding TW (2004) Electroencephalographic studies of skilled psychomotor performance. J Clin Neurophysiol 21:144–156. https://doi.org/10.1097/00004691-200405000-00003
Haufler AJ, Spalding TW, Santa Maria DL, Hatfield BD (2000) Neuro-cognitive activity during a self-paced visuospatial task: comparative EEG profiles in marksmen and novice shooters. Biol Psychol 53:131–160. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0301-0511(00)00047-8
Hunter AH, Angilletta MJ Jr, Wilson RS (2018) Behaviors of shooter and goalkeeper interact to determine the outcome of soccer penalties. Scand J Med Sci Sports 28:2751–2759. https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.13276
Ishii H, Yanagiya T, Naito H, Katamoto S, Maruyama T (2012) Theoretical study of factors affecting ball velocity in instep soccer kicking. J Appl Biomech 28:258–270. https://doi.org/10.1123/jab.28.3.258
Janelle CM, Hillman CH, Apparies RJ, Murray NP, Meili L, Fallon EA, Hatfield BD (2000) Expertise Differences in Cortical Activation and Gaze Behavior during Rifle Shooting. J Sport Exerc Psychol 22:167. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.22.2.167
Jiang X, Bian GB, Tian Z (2019) Removal of Artifacts from EEG Signals: A Review. Sensors 19:987. https://doi.org/10.3390/s19050987
Kao SC, Huang CJ, Hung TM (2013) Frontal midline theta is a specific indicator of optimal attentional engagement during skilled putting performance. J Sport Exerc Psychol 35:470–478. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.35.5.470
Katis A, Kellis E (2010) Three-dimensional kinematics and ground reaction forces during the instep and outstep soccer kicks in pubertal players. J Sports Sci 28:1233–1241. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2010.504781
Kellis E, Katis A, Gissis I (2004) Knee biomechanics of the support leg in soccer kicks from three angles of approach. Med Sci Sports Exerc 36:1017–1028. https://doi.org/10.1249/01.mss.0000128147.01979.31
Klimesch W, Doppelmayr M, Röhm D, Pöllhuber D, Stadler W (2000) Simultaneous desynchronization and synchronization of different alpha responses in the human electroencephalograph: a neglected paradox? Neurosci Lett 284:97–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-3940(00)00985-X
Landers D, Han M, Salazar W, Petruzzello S (1994) Effects of learning on electroencephalographic and electrocardiographic patterns in novice archers. Int J Sport Psychol 25:313–330
Lees A, Asai T, Andersen TB, Nunome H, Sterzing T (2010) The biomechanics of kicking in soccer: a review. J Sports Sci 28:805–817. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2010.481305
Levanon J, Dapena J (1998) Comparison of the kinematics of the full-instep and pass kicks in soccer. Med Sci Sports Exerc 30:917–927. https://doi.org/10.1097/00005768-199806000-00022
Loze GM, Collins D, Holmes PS (2001) Pre-shot EEG alpha-power reactivity during expert air-pistol shooting: a comparison of best and worst shots. J Sports Sci 19:727–733. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640410152475856
Makeig S (1993) Auditory event-related dynamics of the EEG spectrum and effects of exposure to tones. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol 86:283–293. https://doi.org/10.1016/0013-4694(93)90110-h
Makeig S, Debener S, Onton J, Delorme A (2004) Mining event-related brain dynamics. Trends Cogn Sci 8:204–210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2004.03.008
Moore SA, McKay HA, Macdonald H, Nettlefold L, Baxter-Jones AD, Cameron N, Brasher PM (2015) Enhancing a somatic maturity prediction model. Med Sci Sports Exerc 47:1755–1764. https://doi.org/10.1249/mss.0000000000000588
Mucarquer JA, Prado P, Escobar MJ, El-Deredy W, Zañartu M (2020) Improving EEG muscle artifact removal with an EMG array. IEEE Trans Instrum Meas 69:815–824. https://doi.org/10.1109/tim.2019.2906967
Mustile M, Kourtis D, Ladouce S, Learmonth G, Edwards MG, Donaldson DI, Ietswaart M (2021) Mobile EEG reveals functionally dissociable dynamic processes supporting real-world ambulatory obstacle avoidance: evidence for early proactive control. Eur J Neurosci Advance. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.15120
Nagano T, Kato T, Fukuda T (2006) Visual behaviors of soccer players while kicking with the inside of the foot. Percept Mot Skills 102:147–156. https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.102.1.147-156
Nakata H (2015). Sports performance and the brain. In. Sports performance. Springer, pp 3–12
Noël B, Kamp JVD (2012) Gaze behaviour during the soccer penalty kick: an investigation of the effects of strategy and anxiety. Int J Sport Psychol 43:326–345. https://doi.org/10.7352/IJSP.2012.43.326
Nunome H, Asai T, Ikegami Y, Sakurai S (2002) Three-dimensional kinetic analysis of side-foot and instep soccer kicks. Med Sci Sports Exerc 34:2028–2036. https://doi.org/10.1097/00005768-200212000-00025
Ofori E, Coombes SA, Vaillancourt DE (2015) 3D Cortical electrophysiology of ballistic upper limb movement in humans. Neuroimage 115:30–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.04.043
Palucci Vieira LH, Barbieri FA, Kellis E, Oliveira L, Aquino R, Cunha S, Bedo B, Manechini J, Santiago P (2021a) Organisation of instep kicking in young U11 to U20 soccer players. Sci Med Football 5:111–120. https://doi.org/10.1080/24733938.2020.1807043
Palucci Vieira LH, Santinelli FB, Carling C, Kellis E, Santiago PRP, Barbieri FA (2021b) Acute effects of warm-up, exercise and recovery-related strategies on assessments of soccer kicking performance: a critical and systematic review. Sports Med 51:661–705. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-020-01391-9
Palucci Vieira LH, Lastella M, da Silva JP, Cesário TAI, Santinelli FB, Moretto GF, Santiago PRP, Barbieri FA (2022) Low sleep quality and morningness-eveningness scale score may impair ball placement but not kicking velocity in youth academy soccer players. Sci Med Football. https://doi.org/10.1080/24733938.2021.2014550
Park JL, Fairweather MM, Donaldson DI (2015) Making the case for mobile cognition: EEG and sports performance. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 52:117–130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2015.02.014
Perrey S, Besson P (2018) Studying brain activity in sports performance: contributions and issues. Prog Brain Res 240:247–267. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.pbr.2018.07.004
Petersen TH, Willerslev-Olsen M, Conway BA, Nielsen JB (2012) The motor cortex drives the muscles during walking in human subjects. J Physiol 590:2443–2452. https://doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.2012.227397
Pfurtscheller G, Lopes da Silva FH (1999) Event-related EEG/MEG synchronization and desynchronization: basic principles. Clin Neurophysiol 110:1842–1857. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1388-2457(99)00141-8
Pluta A, Williams CC, Binsted G, Hecker KG, Krigolson OE (2018) Chasing the zone: reduced beta power predicts baseball batting performance. Neurosci Lett 686:150–154. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2018.09.004
Presacco A, Forrester LW, Contreras-Vidal JL (2012) Decoding intra-limb and inter-limb kinematics during treadmill walking from scalp electroencephalographic (EEG) signals. IEEE Trans Neur Sys Reh 20:212–219. https://doi.org/10.1109/TNSRE.2012.2188304
Putnam CA (1991) A segment interaction analysis of proximal-to-distal sequential segment motion patterns. Med Sci Sports Exerc 23:130–144
Salazar W, Landers DM, Petruzzello SJ, Han M, Crews DJ, Kubitz KA (1990) Hemispheric asymmetry, cardiac response, and performance in elite archers. Res Q Exerc Sport 61:351–359. https://doi.org/10.1080/02701367.1990.10607499
Salmelin R, Hámáaláinen M, Kajola M, Hari R (1995) Functional segregation of movement-related rhythmic activity in the human brain. Neuroimage 2:237–243. https://doi.org/10.1006/nimg.1995.1031
Slutter MWJ, Thammasan N, Poel M (2021) Exploring the brain activity related to missing penalty kicks: an fNIRS study. Front Comput Sci 3:661466. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomp.2021.661466
Suzuki M, Miyai I, Ono T, Oda I, Konishi I, Kochiyama T, Kubota K (2004) Prefrontal and premotor cortices are involved in adapting walking and running speed on the treadmill: an optical imaging study. Neuroimage 23:1020–1026. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2004.07.002
Tabachnick BG, Fidell LS (2019) Cleaning up your act: screening data prior to analysis. In: Tabachnick BG, Fidell LS (eds) Using multivariate statistics. Pearson, Boston, pp 52–98
Tharawadeepimuk K, Wongsawat Y (2017) Quantitative EEG evaluation for performance level analysis of professional female soccer players. Cogn Neurodyn 11:233–244. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11571-017-9427-3
van den Tillaar R, Fuglstad P (2017) Effect of instructions prioritizing speed or accuracy on kinematics and kicking performance in football players. J Mot Behav 49:414–421. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222895.2016.1219311
Vieira LHP, Cunha SA, Moraes R, Barbieri FA, Aquino R, Oliveira LdP, Navarro M, Bedo BLS, Santiago PRP (2018) Kicking performance in young U9 to U20 soccer players: assessment of velocity and accuracy simultaneously. Res Q Exerc Sport 89:210–220. https://doi.org/10.1080/02701367.2018.1439569
Wood G, Wilson MR (2010) Gaze behaviour and shooting strategies in football penalty kicks: Implications of a" keeper-dependent" approach. Int J Sport Psychol 41:293–312
Acknowledgements
The authors offer warm thanks to Foguinho Sports Football Club at Bauru (São Paulo, Brazil) members and Leandro Avila. We also acknowledge help with data acquisition and processing provided by Ms. Lucas Galdino and Dr. Rodrigo Vitório.
Funding
This study was funded by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) under fellowship and grant numbers #2018/02965-7 (doctorate - Luiz Henrique Palucci Vieira), #2020/04282-4 (scientific initiation - João Pedro da Silva) and #2017/19516-8 (regular - Fabio Augusto Barbieri) and in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance code [001].
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors state no potential conflicts of interest in relation to the content of the present study.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Palucci Vieira, L.H., Carling, C., da Silva, J.P. et al. Modelling the relationships between EEG signals, movement kinematics and outcome in soccer kicking. Cogn Neurodyn 16, 1303–1321 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11571-022-09786-2
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11571-022-09786-2