Could tDCS Be a Potential Performance-Enhancing Tool for Acute Neurocognitive Modulation in eSports? A Perspective Review

Sergio Machado, Bruno Travassos, Diogo S. Teixeira, Filipe Rodrigues, Luis Cid and Diogo Monteiro
Additional contact information
Sergio Machado: Laboratory of Physical Activity Neuroscience, Physical Activity Sciences Postgraduate Program, Salgado de Oliveira University, Niterói 24456-570, Brazil
Bruno Travassos: Department of Sports Science, University of Beira Interior, 6201-001 Covilhã, Portugal
Diogo S. Teixeira: Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Lusófona University, 1749-024 Lisbon, Portugal
Filipe Rodrigues: Sport Science School of Rio Maior, ESDRM-IPSantarém, 2040-413 Rio Maio, Portugal
Luis Cid: Research Center in Sport, Health and Human Development (CIDESD), 5000-558 Vila Real, Portugal
Diogo Monteiro: Research Center in Sport, Health and Human Development (CIDESD), 5000-558 Vila Real, Portugal

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 7, 1-9

Abstract: Competitive sports involve physical and cognitive skills. In traditional sports, there is a greater dependence on the development and performance of both motor and cognitive skills, unlike electronic sports (eSports), which depend much more on neurocognitive skills for success. However, little is known about neurocognitive functions and effective strategies designed to develop and optimize neurocognitive performance in eSports athletes. One such strategy is transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), characterized as a weak electric current applied on the scalp to induce prolonged changes in cortical excitability. Therefore, our objective is to propose anodal (a)-tDCS as a performance-enhancing tool for neurocognitive functions in eSports. In this manuscript, we discussed the neurocognitive processes that underlie exceptionally skilled performances in eSports and how tDCS could be used for acute modulation of these processes in eSports. Based on the results from tDCS studies in healthy people, professional athletes, and video game players, it seems that tDCS is applied over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) as a potential performance-enhancing tool for neurocognition in eSports.

Keywords: dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; eAthletes; eSports; transcranial direct current stimulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/7/3678/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/7/3678/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:7:p:3678-:d:528346

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().