Qidi Shi

Light and noise are important factors affecting shooting performance, and shooters can exhibit physiological processes that differ from normal shooting when they are subjected to disturbed visual and auditory conditions. The purpose of this study was to explore the neural mechanism of shooting preparation in skilled shooters with visual and auditory limitations. We designed an experiment and recorded the electroencephalograph (EEG) and shooting performance indexes of 40 individuals skilled in marksmanship during the shooting preparation stage under three conditions: low light, noise interference, and a normal environment. EEG relative band power features and event-related desynchronization/synchronization (ERD/ERS) features were extracted and analyzed. The results showed that (1) the average score of the shooters was 8.55 under normal conditions, 7.71 under visually restricted conditions, and 8.50 under auditorily restricted conditions; (2) the relative EEG band power in the frontal lobe (Fp1, Fp2), frontal lobe (F4, F8), left temporal region (T7), central lobe (CP2), and parietal lobe (P3, PO3) in the theta band was significantly lower than in the other two environments (p < 0.05), and there was no significant difference between the power intensity of the shooter in the noisy environment and that in the normal environment; and (3) in the low-light environment, a significant negative correlation was found between the central region, the left and right temporal regions, and the parietal lobe (p < 0.05). These findings provide a basis for further understanding neural mechanisms in the brain during the shooting preparation phase under visually and auditorily restricted conditions.

Shooting is a sport dominated by psychological factors. Hence, disturbing the shooter’s sensory function during aiming will seriously affect his psychological state and shooting performance. Electroencephalograph (EEG) measurements of 30 skilled marksmen in the shooting preparation stage under noisy disturbance, weak light, and normal conditions were recorded. Therefore, the differences in neural mechanisms in the shooter’s brain during shooting aiming in different disturbance conditions were explored using an analytical approach that employs functional connectivity and brain network analysis based on graph theory. The relationship between these brain network characteristics and shooting performance was also compared. The results showed that (1) the average connection strength in the beta frequency band and connection intensity in the left and right temporal lobes of the shooters under noise disturbance were significantly higher than those under the other two conditions, and their brain networks also showed a higher global and local efficiency. In addition, (2) the functional connection intensity in the occipital region of the beta band was higher than that in the normal condition in the weak-light condition. The information interaction in the left parietal region also increased continually during the shooting process. (3) Furthermore, the shooters’ eigenvector centrality in the temporal and occipital regions with limited sensory function in the two conditions was lower than those in the normal condition. These findings suggest that noise disturbance activates the arousal level of the shooter’s brain and enhances the information processing efficiency of the brain network; however, it increases the mental workload. In weak-light conditions, shooters focus more on visual information processing during aiming and strengthen the inhibition of functions in the brain regions unrelated to shooting behavior. Audiovisual disturbance renders the cortical regions equivalent to the audiovisual perception function in the shooter’s brain less important in the entire brain network than in the normal condition. Therefore, these findings reveal the effect of audiovisual disturbance on the functional network of the cortex in the shooting preparation stage and provide a theoretical basis for further understanding the neural mechanism of the shooting process under sensory disturbances.