The article The ethics of neuroscience in sport, on TheUbyssey.ca, provides some new information on the ways athletes use advances in neuroscience to their advantage.

Specifically, the article mentions the prevalent use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to observe the human brain in action. Since the 1990′s fMRI’s have observed the brain under almost all conceivable conditions. Ok, this is an exaggeration, but fMRI’s are commonly used in research. They produce an animation of brain activity rather than just a snapshot of the soft tissue itself. By correlatinig these activations with moods and emotions, reserachers have some basic understanding of what activity in different parts of the brain means.

Stanford-trained neurologist, Dr. Judy Illes, says that fMRI’s are becoming more common in sports research too – and the Canadian swim team was quick to take advantage of this development. Here is an excerpt from the article that talks about the Canadian swim team’s use of fMRI:

“Hap Davis, the team