Brain slow potentials and postural sway behavior during sharpshooting performance

In the present study, the relation of preparatory brain slow potentials (SP s) to postural body sway during sharpshooting performance was examined. SPs from frontal, left-central, and right-central areas were recorded from 6 e lite and 6 non-elite sharpshooters during a realistic simulated shooting ta sk. A force platform technique was used in the recording of postural sway. The results showed that body sway, as indexed by sway amplitude and mean ve locity, was associated with the concomitant SP changes. That relationship w as dependent on the shooter's expertise level, however. The main finding am ong the elite shooters was that the reduced amplitude of body sway coincide d with reduced frontal positivity, whereas in the non-elite shooters, the a mplitude of sway and the mean sway velocity in the anteroposterior directio n were typically accompanied by the lateralization of central negativity. T hose findings offer some new insights for evaluating the functional signifi cance of preparatory brain SPs associated with psychomotor processing in sh arpshooting. The results from the present study also have implications for the understanding of the postural strategies employed by shooters of differ ent expertise levels.