From June 6 to August 12, Dr. Steven Hackley, an associate professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia in the U.S., covered a wide range of subjects from the historical transition of cognitive neuroscience research to the latest research on human higher brain functions in his class on “Cognitive Neuroscience of Sports.”
The first half of his lectures was conducted based on physiological and anatomical knowledge on how humans perceive stimuli from the outside world through sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.
In the latter half of the course, he gave lectures on high‐order functions such as motor learning, motivation, attention and decision making. He shared what kind of research has been conducted historically and what the current theories are, as well as what the latest research trends have been in recent years. In addition, with his latest research findings based on brain wave and functional magnetic resonance imaging, the key methodology used during his brain function research was taken up and discussed among students. Of particular interest to the students was the direct link between high order functions and athletes’ physical performance.
The final lecture was spent with the students chatting among themselves over snacks brought by Dr. Hackley. The students who took the course gained a new multifaceted perspective through a series of American-style lectures. The lecture on brain function given by the world-renowned Dr. Steven Hackley in particular gave over students the opportunity to consider brain function which is necessary for athletes to achieve higher performance.
Course description from the syllabus
This is a lecture course dealing with the neural basis of competitive athletic performance. No prior course-work in psychology or brain science is assumed. Diverse topics from Neuroscience and Psychology will be covered: Motor control, emotion & motivation, decision making, perception, history, and research methodology. A short term paper will be required to give students supervised practice in English composition.