The Effects of Neurofeedback on the Improvement of Rifle Shooters' Performance

Abstract

The aim of our study was to compare rifle shooters' performance between two groups of expert shooters, one trained with a neurofeedback method and the other not trained. The study design employed a pretest-posttest design with an untreated control group (nonrandomized). The sample included 24 national and provincial shooters. Shooting performance was studied based on 6 indicators via a device called "Scott," and paired and independent t tests were performed with corrections for multiple comparisons. A significant improvement was found for the neurofeedback group for the mean of shot results before and after the training (p =.001), but no other improvements were found (all ps >.05). In the control group, no differences were found on any of the study indicators (all ps >.05). There was a significant difference between mean discrepancies of shot results between the two groups (p =.01), whereas there were no such differences in any of other the indicators (all ps >.05). Neurofeedback can be suggested as a method to improve rifle shooters' performances. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.