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RESEARCH AT University College Dublin is uncovering the secret brain processes of star sportspeople which make them so successful.
Professor Aidan Moran of the UCD School of Pyschology says that his team of scientists are harnessing their discoveries and packaging them in order to advise sports psychologists and coaches on the best methods to help their clients improve their performance.
Eye trackers have been in use in sports science and psychology research at UCD for the past decade but they have become much more powerful in recent years. Prof Moran said:
We use those eye trackers to look at the differences between expert sportspeople and beginners in order to find out what’s going on in their mind as they look at something. The eye tracker gives us a pattern of fixations that the eyes display.
But the psychology begins when we start analysing those fixations to see the knowledge that lies behind them. Sport is played by the body but won mainly in the mind.
It is the mental process that “distinguish expert sportspeople from beginners” that is the source of study.
Watch former tennis pro Conor Niland in the video below, using the tracking technology here as he watches video of a tennis match. Professor Moran shows that Niland’s eye lands in a completely different spot from that of an amateur player. The amateur player literally keeps their eye on the ball – Niland’s eye is on a point on the court, anticipating the position of his opponent.
(The blue markers denote where the amateur player’s eye lands; the yellow is where the eye of a professional ‘hits’.)
The hope is that analysing the mental patterns of professionals like Niland, scientists can evolve better training techniques for coaches and sports psychologists to use with clients in all sorts of sports. The research has also discovered that judging slopes on the green is a particularly important skill to hone for golfers.
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3G patchy, 4G almost non existent around Ireland al least. Let’s start on 5G!
So Should I upgrade my iPhone 4 yet or wait?
Your iPhone 4 doesn’t support 4G, so it will only work on 2G and 3G networks. So your phone is behind already
Upgrade to an iphone 7 and to hell with everyone else.
I know its old! What I don’t know is if its better to upgrade now or wait
Your device is capable of a theoretical speed 42.3Mbps so it’s still very good as long as you are near a tower. So really you can make do with your iPhone 4!
Was in the US recently and discovered my iPhone 4 has 4G. Forgot to turn off data and cost me a fortune in 15 secs :-(
Viking this is probably not the case.. Some of the operators advertise their UMTS networks as ’4G’ even though they are 3G. They do this because no one owns the terms ’4G’ or ’3G’ and simply renaming their 3G network as ’4G’ gives the perception that their network is more advanced that their competitors. That’s America for you!
Somebody give that poor man a simple yes or no answer!
Im going to start working on 11G now, by the time they get there Ill probably have invented it and ill be rich!
Start at 1H, totally take everyone by surprise.
3G , 4G …. 5G …..
Could someone please explain these terms in English.
Is this just another way to get more money out of us consumers or are there real benefits to society?
Each is a generation. One generation is an technological evolution of the other. The higher the number, the faster the internet on your phone.
The higher the number the bigger the tumour..
Doesn’t matter a shite when you still can’t get even 2G in certain parts of rural Ireland.
The higher the number, the more you have to pay to use it!!!
It has a lot to do with the consumer product cycle. Just about the time your phone stops holding a battery charge, they develop a new “network technology” so you will buy a new phone to go with the new network and the new contract with your provider that includes a new price.
I still have an old Motorola phone bought in China for 5quid that still works–and it goes a week between charging! Of course, I can’t tweet or update my FB…life’s critical elements are therefore beyond my reach when driving.
I’d settle for a signal 3 are a disaster, now they have 02, will 3 get better or 02 worse ?
We haven’t got 4G yet and no idea when we will.
We do have 4G, it is live.
I think I can live without the power of the xG network.
5g cant even get 2g ffs
Is there a network that uses Henry McG….?
have your say