Perceptions: Thinking, or Thinking of Golf?
By ERIC NAGOURNEY
New York Times
July 8th
Is golf the thinking athlete's game? Perhaps, but don't think too hard if you want to do well, a new study suggests.
When golfers of differing abilities were asked to visualize their swings as an M.R.I. scanned their brains, the best golfers showed the least brain activity, researchers report in the current American Journal of Neuroradiology.
The goal of the study, led by Dr. Jeffrey S. Ross of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, was to gauge the value of M.R.I.'s in interpreting brain activation during complex mental imagery.
But because many doctors have more than a passing familiarity with the golf course, the study may prove of special interest. "The suspicion is that this will be one of the most widely read articles in the 23-year history" of the journal, an editorial in it said.
The value of the study may be limited, the journal said, by its use of only six golfers. Nevertheless, the researchers said, some patterns emerged when the golfers, all men, were asked to lie in M.R.I.'s, close their eyes and imagine their swings.
The men experienced increased activity in brain sections involved in primary motor control, generating imagery, action planning and execution, and error detection, the study said. More accomplished golfers had less activation.
Yesssssss...that's it...less activation!