The effect of Different Models of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Risky Decision-Making in Sports Referees

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Shahrouz Ghayebzadeh 1
Shirin Zardoshtian 2
Hassan sabourimoghaddam 3
Ehsan Amiri 4
louis-solal Giboin 5
1 Department of Sports Management, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran
2 Department of Sport management, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran
3 Department of Psychology, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran
4 Assistant Professor / Razi University
5 Human Performance Research Centre, Department of Sport Science, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
10.22089/spj.2021.10363.2126
Abstract
The present study aimed to investigate the effects of different models of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on risky decision-making in male team sports referees. Twenty four Football, Futsal, Vollyball, Basketball, and Hanbal referees aged 19-38 at level 3 to national level with 2-18 years of experience voluntarily took part in this study. After the familiarization session, in a double-blind, sham-controlled crossover design, each subject visited the laboratory on three different occasions separated by at least 72 hours in between and was exposed to anodal, cathodal, and sham stimulation types over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (L-DLPFC). Before and after each stimulation type, Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and Impulsivity (IMP) Go/No Go psychological tasks were performed. The difference between the mean values of the variables (Delta) at pre and post-intervention were calculated and used for statistical analyses. The results showed that delta IGT was significantly higher in Anodal and Cathodal stimulation compared to sham stimulation (p=0.003, p=0.01, respectively). On the other hand, a significantly higher delta IMP was observed in anodal and sham stimulation in comparison with cathodal stimulation (p=0.0001, p=0.002, respectively). As a novel finding, these results indicated the positive effects of anodal stimulations over the right DLPFC in factors associated with risky decision-making in male sports referees. To conclude, these results pave the path for using tDCS as a possible strategy to boost risky decision-making in male sport referees. However, more research is needed to ascertain this conjecture.
Keywords
Brain stimulation
Decision-making
Impulsivity
Referees
Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
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Sport Physiology
Volume 13, Issue 51 - Serial Number 51
November 2021
Pages 117-138

  • Receive Date 14 April 2021
  • Revise Date 17 August 2021
  • Accept Date 24 August 2021