Grasping your athlete’s response to cognitive training is essential for fine-tuning performance enhancement strategies. Among the plethora of metrics, we emphasize the “Big Three”—reaction time, variation, and accuracy—as central to your decision-making process. Evaluating these metrics collectively rather than individually is crucial. Improvement in all three metrics indicates successful adaptation, while no improvement or deterioration suggests a need to reassess and adjust your approach, considering their interconnectedness.
When the Big 3 Have Improved Significantly (Over 5%)
An improvement exceeding 5% in reaction time, variation, and accuracy signifies successful adaptation to the current training stimulus. To further cognitive development in your athletes’ next training program, you can:
Task Introduction
Choose new tasks for your next training program that specifically target the cognitive demands you're focusing on.
Task Customization
Increase the tasks' intensity, duration, or both, while applying specialized training modes to increase the cognitive load.
When Performance in the Big 3 Has Not Improved by 5% or Shows No Change
If there’s no improvement or the changes are less than 5%, it indicates a plateau or minimal adaptation. In such cases:
Reuse the Tasks
The current tasks remains valuable, offering the athlete another chance to meet its challenges.
Customize the Tasks
Adjust the tasks' intensity, extend their duration, or incorporate specialized training modes to create a more tailored cognitive challenge.
Making Decisions Based on Key Metrics
Directly assessing the “Big Three” metrics—reaction time, variation, and accuracy—is crucial for tailoring an athlete’s cognitive training. Significant improvements suggest readiness for more challenging tasks or new demands. If not, the strategy may need tweaking. Decisions should hinge on these indicators to effectively push or adapt an athlete’s training.
We suggest starting by focusing on the Big Three to efficiently assess progress and make informed decisions for future training adaptations. As your skills improve, you can move on to advanced analysis.
Learn more about advanced analysis 👉 here.
Baselines Colour Legend:
Purple: Improved Performance
Blue: No Change
Grey: Deteriorated Performance