Jes Buster Madsen: Neuroscience and developing decision making
Oct 28, 2023
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Jes Buster Madsen, Head of Research and Development for FC Copenhagen in Denmark, discusses the role of cognitive neuroscience in football. Topics include the importance of ecological psychology, visual cues, working memory, game intelligence, simplicity in neuroscience, and the neuroplasticity of the brain.
Cognitive neuroscience can be integrated into football training to improve players' decision-making abilities through cognitive profiling and specialized exercises.
Understanding players' cognitive abilities through cognitive profiling allows for tailored training and development to enhance specific skills required for different positions in football.
Deep dives
The Untapped Potential of Cognitive Neuroscience in Football
The podcast episode explores the field of cognitive neuroscience in relation to football. It highlights the lack of research and understanding of the brain processes underlying the sport, focusing on perception, game intelligence, and decision-making. Jez Bus de Madsen, the head of research and development at FC Copenhagen, shares his journey in bringing cognitive neuroscience into football. By utilizing cognitive profiling and VR cognitive testing, the club aims to improve players' cognitive abilities, including working memory, pattern recognition, attention, and scanning. The integration of neuroscience with training methodologies allows for more specific and effective development of players, as it aligns with the principle of training how you play. The episode emphasizes the long-term approach, collaboration between coaches and cognitive neuroscientists, and the potential for clubs to make significant and affordable gains in this area.
The Importance of Ecological Psychology and Training Methodology
The podcast delves into the significance of ecological psychology in football training. It emphasizes the need for training exercises to closely replicate game situations and provide relevant stimuli. By analyzing coach language, player behavior, and exercise specificity, clubs can create exercises that enhance perceptual systems and improve decision-making on the pitch. The integration of neuroscience in training helps players develop better scanning behavior, efficient working memory, and accurate pattern recognition. The episode offers examples of how exercises can be adapted to align with ecological psychology principles and improve players' decision-making abilities.
Understanding Cognitive Abilities and Specializing Players
The podcast discusses the importance of assessing and understanding players' cognitive abilities in football. Through cognitive profiling and analysis, clubs gain insights into players' strengths and weaknesses in various cognitive capacities, such as working memory, pattern recognition, attention, and scanning. This knowledge enables coaches to provide specialized training and development to enhance specific cognitive skills required for different positions. The example of different scanning capabilities among wingers and central players showcases the need for tailored training based on individual cognitive profiles. The episode emphasizes the potential for cognitive testing to guide player development, optimize positional placements, and create a more balanced and versatile team.
Challenging the Concept of Game Intelligence in Football
The podcast challenges the traditional notion of game intelligence in football and offers a different perspective rooted in cognitive neuroscience. Instead of focusing on game intelligent decisions, the emphasis is on understanding the prerequisites of decision-making and providing players with the necessary cognitive skills and prerequisites. The cognitive model developed by FC Copenhagen aims to enhance scanning, working memory, attention, and other cognitive capacities. By focusing on players' raw sensory data perception, attention, and pattern recognition, the club seeks to enable players to make optimal decisions regardless of the tactical systems they are in. The episode highlights the importance of developing players' cognitive abilities and the potential for neuroscience to provide a more solid metric for assessing game intelligence.
Our guest on Episode #57 of the TGG Podcast, in association with Hudl, is Jes Buster Madsen.
Jes is Head of Research and Development for FC Copenhagen in Denmark and is leading the way in the application of cognitive neuroscience in football.
SHOW NOTES=>
01:31: What role of Head of Research & Development involves. How he got the role.
09:10: How he persuaded Academy Director Sune Smith-Nielsen to give him the job at FC Copenhagen.
12:37: Importance of application of ecological psychology in football.
15:50: What does perception actually mean and what does it involve?
21:12: Importance of visual cues. "The biggest sensory system in the brain - and the one that takes up the most space by far - is the visual system."
23:27: Working memory: the ability to remember information temporarily. Pattern recognition. Implications in scanning.
26:32: Has your work impacted/ changed coaching practice at FC Copenhagen? Has it influenced and improved the players?
29:02: What is 'game intelligence'?
34:06: How you can tell a player's position from their brain scan. Importance of simplicity: "Neuroscience is complex and when something is complex, people try to find the most complex solution. I think the other way round - when something is complex, we should find the most simple solution and work from there."
37:07: Everything in the brain can be trained. The brain is neuroplastic and can change.
38:28: Future of neuroscience in football.
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