Assessment and Training of Perceptual-Motor Efficiency for Human Performance Optimization

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Background

The ability to respond rapidly and effectively to sudden changes in environmental circumstances can sometimes be crucial for avoidance of a catastrophic event. Optimal responsiveness depends on integration of brain processes involved in oculomotor control, visuospatial calibration, decision making, and neuromuscular coordination. Reaction time is widely recognized as an important indirect indicator of brain processing speed, but its definition is highly variable. The action defining a completed response to a stimulus can range from a specified amount of pupil movement, a keyboard or mouse finger tap, a manual button press requiring an upper extremity reach, or whole-body displacement over a specified distance. Under many circumstances, response accuracy is just as important as its speed. “Perceptual-motor efficiency” encompasses all sources of sensory inputs, as well as the speed-accuracy tradeoff that can affect a situational outcome.

The goal of this Research Topic is to collect manuscripts that have direct practical applications to injury prevention, rehabilitation of brain or musculoskeletal injury, or human performance optimization, thereby advancing the knowledge of physicians, physiotherapists, athletic trainers, sport psychologists, coaches, and academic researchers. Advanced neuroimaging and electrophysiologic studies have clearly demonstrated that impaired functional connectivity within the brain slows neural processing, and that neuroplastic adaptations can enhance neural processing, but the existing literature contains very little evidence to guide clinical assessment or treatment of deficient perceptual-motor performance capabilities. We welcome manuscript submissions pertaining to issues such as (but not limited to) prevention and treatment of sport-related concussion or musculoskeletal injury, fall prevention, avoidance of motor vehicle accidents, and situational awareness of military or law enforcement personnel.

Topics of interest include:
• Effects of sport-related concussion and/or repetitive head impacts on perceptual-motor function, including risk for subsequent concussion and/or musculoskeletal injury.
• Effects of psychosocial factors on perceptual-motor function, including possible interactive effects with persisting pathophysiological processes following mild traumatic brain injury.
• Effects of aging on perceptual-motor function, including possible relationships to neurodegenerative disorders and elevated susceptibility to falls and motor vehicle accidents.
• Evidence supporting any interventions that show promise for improvement of perceptual-motor efficiency, including any data demonstrating enhancement of functional capabilities.
• Relative benefits of assessment and training methods that are isolated (e.g. oculomotor function) versus integrated (e.g. whole-body reactive agility).

Keywords: Reaction Time, Neuromechanical Function, Perception-Action Coupling, Situational Awareness, Neuroplasticity

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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