Electrophysiological correlate of top-down attention bias in a realistic virtual shooting environment,

Michael Pereira

CNBI, Institute of Bioengineering

EPFL, Lausanne, Suisse

One well-known source of sport performance variability is the shifting of the attention locus from the task due to a disturbing environment. In this collaboration, we aim at studying the neural correlates of such attentional
shifts using scalp electroencephalography (EEG) in a virtual reality simulation. For this purpose we considered an Olympic virtual shooting scenario which requires a high degree of concentration and does not involve intense physical activity. The lack of physical activity ensures that EEG recordings will not be polluted with artefacts due to excessive movements. The experimentation was done at the Immersia platform which provided the optimal conditions to implement such a realistic sports scenario in virtual reality, assuring a high degree of immersion and providing an ecologically valid competition scenario.