Course Syllabus

Course Description

Athletic performance depends on how the body and brain adapt. While muscles undergo hypertrophy to increase strength and stability, the brain adapts to improve timing, speed, motor coordination, perceptual ability, and real-time decision-making—critical skills in high-pressure competitive environments. Now, researchers can study brain activity during actual performance, revealing the neural efficiency that separates novices from elite athletes. But with “neurodoping” (non-invasive brain stimulation) on the rise to enhance performance, there are new ethical and regulatory challenges ahead. Through this course, you will learn to understand neural mechanisms, evaluate research techniques, assess emerging technologies and methods, and debate ethical implications.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Understand neural mechanisms involved in athletic performance: Explain the neurobiological processes underlying motor control, skill acquisition, and expert athletic performance.
• Identify Neural Efficiency: Define the characteristics of the "athletic brain" vs. the novice, including concepts like neural efficiency, cognitive and motor automation, cortical expansion, and internal models.
• Evaluate research technologies: Critically assess the use of neuroscientific tools like EEG, fMRI, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) in the context of sports science.
• Assess emerging technologies and methods: Critically evaluate the effectiveness and mechanisms of "neurodoping" technologies and cognitive/sports exercise methods like Brain Endurance Training.
• Debate ethical implications: Formulate evidence-based arguments regarding the ethical use of neurostimulation and its regulation by organizations like WADA.

Faculty

TBD

 

Readings

(This is a sample of the literature that the students will be reading.)

Davis, N. J. (2013). Neurodoping: Brain stimulation as a performance-enhancing measure. Sports Medicine, 43(8), 649–653.

Edwards, D. J., Cortes, M., Wortman-Jutt, S., Putrino, D., Bikson, M., Thickbroom, G., & Pascual-Leone, A. (2017). Transcranial direct current stimulation and sports performance. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 11, Article 243.

Gazerani, P. (2017). Performance enhancement by brain stimulation. Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, 16(3), 444–445.

Hernández-Mendo, A., Reigal, R. E., López-Walle, J. M., Serpa, S., Samdal, O., Morales-Sánchez, V., Juárez-Ruiz de Mier, R., Tristán-Rodríguez, J. L., Rosado, A. F., & Falco, C. (2019). Physical activity, sports practice, and cognitive functioning: The current research status. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, Article 2658.

Holgado, D., Sanabria, D., Vadillo, M. A., & Román-Caballero, R. (2024). Zapping the brain to enhance sport performance? An umbrella review of the effect of transcranial direct current stimulation on physical performance. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 164, Article 105821.

Machado, S., de Araújo, M., de Oliveira, A. J., da Silva-Sauer, L., Rodrigues-Brazão, L., & de Castro, G. (2019). Effect of transcranial direct current stimulation on exercise performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Brain Stimulation, 12(3), 593–605.

Roelands, B., & Bogataj, S. (2024). Optimizing athletic performance through brain endurance training. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 19(10), 973–974.

Tan, S. J., Kerr, G., Sullivan, J. P., & Peake, J. M. (2019). A brief review of the application of neuroergonomics in skilled cognition during expert sports performance. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 13, Article 278.

Chenxiao Wu, Chenyuan Zhang, Xueqiao Li, Chaoxiong Ye & Piia Astikainen (2027) Comparison of working memory performance in athletes and non-athletes: a metaanalysis of behavioural studies, Memory, 33:2, 259-277

Yarrow, K., Brown, P., & Krakauer, J. W. (2009). Inside the brain of an elite athlete: The neural processes that support high achievement in sports. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 10(8), 585–596.

 

Field Studies

Field studies serve to complement your course work by placing you in the professional field. Students will be asked to compare, extend and rethink what we read about and discuss in class. Please be ready for each field study by completing all readings and preparing questions in advance.

We may divide the class into smaller groups, each visiting different sites located in the greater Copenhagen area. Specific field study details are yet to be determined and will be announced closer to the start of the course.

Guest Lecturers

At certain points in the course, guest lecturers may be invited to provide their experience and expertise on select topics being covered in class.

Approach to Teaching

This course is comprised of both lectures and open discussions.  Students are therefore expected to participate actively in the discussions throughout the course to demonstrate critical thinking regarding the current state-of-the-art in neuroscience and psychology.

The schedule will list reading materials for each class meeting. Please be prepared by having read and thought about the material before coming to class. By reading the material beforehand, you will better understand the points I make, you will be better prepared for discussion, and you will be able to ask thoughtful and productive questions.

 

Expectations of the Students

Class attendance is mandatory. Students are expected to have done the reading for each class and to come with notes and questions. This will give us material to generate conversation. It is also expected that during classes the students are able to discuss and to present topics and to respond to questions, providing references to our readings to support their points. Active participation and engagement will account for 20% of your final grade, so it is to be taken seriously. Finally, it is expected that students hand in their assignments on time (late papers will not be accepted) and that they contribute significantly to planned group activities.

 

Assignments & Evaluation

To be eligible for a passing grade in this class you must complete all the assigned work. You will be evaluated based on your performance on the course assignments as indicated below. Additional details will be provided in class.

 

Grading

Assignment	Percent
Class participation and engagement (including field study participation)	20%
Discussion forum (controversies and hot topics)	20%
Debate ethical implications	20%
Mini TED-talk	30%
Concluding reflection paper	10%

 

Participation and Engagement

Preparation, attendance, and engagement in classes and field studies is important because it shows that you are taking responsibility for your own learning. Your participation and engagement grade will be calculated based on your ability to meet the following criteria:

• You attend the class meeting/field study/guest lecture having done the day’s reading.
• You are engaged throughout our class meeting/field study/guest lecture and demonstrate this by prompting discussion and/or responding to your peers by linking comments, asking questions, and drawing connections between readings and themes.
• You listen attentively and respectfully to others (and you avoid dominating or silencing others).
• You offer more than just personal opinion or anecdote – that is, you root your comments in the text we are discussing (e.g., “this reminds me of p. 76 where the authors indicate X”) and link ideas and comments with content from past reading assignments.
• You work collaboratively with people to achieve learning goals when you are placed in a small group.

 

Discussion Forum

The purpose of the Canvas discussion forum is to give you an opportunity to think critically and ask questions about the readings before we meet for class. Each discussion post should be no more than 1 paragraph long and should reflect your own thinking about a particular issue as well as any questions that you have about the reading. Avoid sharing whether you liked the reading or found it to be interesting. Instead, through your comments, you must communicate that you have done each of the following:

• Read the assignment closely,
• Challenged yourself to think critically about the theory/research findings, and,
• Attempted to draw connections with other class content

Please proof-read carefully, use standard punctuation, appropriate language, and make sure you provide sufficient context so that your comments and questions make sense. You should be prepared to discuss your discussion post during our class session so please review it before class.

You are expected to write 5 discussion posts over the course of the semester - you can choose which discussion posts you wish to contribute to during this time.

 

Debate ethical implications

Some of the technologies, methods and applications discussed in class come with ethical questions and implications that can pose a challenge for their potential use. For this assignment, you will prepare an ethical analysis of a given set of applications and present arguments for and against the adoption of these applications. Your analysis will provide a basis for a structured classroom debate with your peers. Details about the debate format and further instructions will be provided at the start of the course.

 

Mini TED-talk
For this assignment, you will have the opportunity to synthesize and integrate your knowledge over the course of the semester and sharing your interests with your classmates in a creative format.

Given the breadth of emerging research on the topics of the course, we are necessarily limited in our ability to review all the areas of sub-specialization within the research literature. Thus, you will have the opportunity to conduct an in-depth exploration of a topic that is of particular interest to you and to share this information with your classmates via a 10-minute presentation of a project that proposes to apply current scientific knowledge and technology to improve performance within some field of sports.

You are welcome to present this "live" during class, or, if you prefer to record the talk in advance, you may do so and we will watch the talk together in class (we will still have a brief Q/A session at the end in case there are questions).

The purpose of this activity is not only to allow you to gain in-depth knowledge, but also to educate and stimulate your classmates by presenting new research and insights into a particular area of scholarship. It is recommended that you identify topics that are reasonably focused/finite, non-overlapping with class content/readings, and are either controversial, difficult to understand, or perhaps “hot topics” in the current literature.

To prepare, you are expected to synthesize at least 7-8 recent peer-reviewed journal articles on your topic; these should form a coherent group. You may also consult other scholarly sources (e.g., reputable news media, books) in addition to the required 7-8 journal articles (note that you will likely need to skim more to find the ones that you wish to synthesize for your presentation). You are strongly encouraged to incorporate Scandinavian research and/or perspectives into your presentation.

In terms of presentation format, try to draw inspiration from TED-talks and share the overall "story" (themes, take-aways, limitations, pending questions...) about the research rather than just presenting a summary of each individual article. Think about what we know and what we don't know - what are the strengths and limitations of the current state of evidence on the topic? What are some promising future directions in the field?

Please submit your presentation slides, video (if pre-recorded), and full list of references in APA format in advance of your presentation. Please be prepared to answer questions from the class on your research topic.

 

Concluding reflection paper

The purpose of this brief (1-2 page) final reflection is to give you an opportunity to consider your learning journey in this course and from your time in Denmark. What are some key take-away messages about how current methods in neuroscience and psychology can help us understand and enhance athletic performance? Has the course changed any of your perceptions? Is there anything you might do differently in the future as a result of taking this course? How can you carry your new learning forward? Please note that this final reflection will be graded as complete-incomplete so you should feel free to write authentically.