In the Zone
In the zone
When you want to do something, like pick up a pencil, your brain locates the pencil in your vision, and the frontal cortex gives the order to the motor cortex to move your arm to pick it up. Fine muscle control comes from the cerebellum, so that your fingers open by exactly the right amount and you apply the right amount of force to pick it up. Feedback from your muscles tells you if it was lighter or heavier than expected. The cerebellum also ensures that you keep your balance the whole time.
But here are some activities that we do so often that we can carry them out without conscious thinking. Once again it's the cerebellum that takes over control of movements that have become routine trough constant repetition, such as signing your name or entering your PIN number.
Typing is a good example. You start off one-fingered, going through all the processes like picking up a pencil. As you become more practised, the cerebellum takes over, mimicking the electrical patterns that the cerebral cortex would use and feeding them directly into the motor pathway, so touch-typists can type without having to think where their fingers are going.
In sport, repeated practise can also result in similarly smooth, efficient movement, and this is when the sportsman can feel "in the zone", as when a top golfer has a perfect swing hole after hole. There may also be a release of the neurotransmitter dopamine, the chemical that produces the sensation of pleasure when one achieves a goal. For instance, Pelé describes a feeling of euphoria when he was playing really well.
Humans have an advantage in having a large conscious-thinking part of our brain, because it enables us to devise plans and strategies, and to train the subconscious brain. But it's at the price of performance, because the conscious brain is relatively slow and unfocused. Its role should be to give an overall direction, rather than interfering with the process.
Unfortunately, if you get stressed or nervous, the conscious brain takes over, thinking about the people watching you, or how cold you are, or how big the opposition is, and your performance deteriorates.
That's why it's essential that practise is as close to match situations as possible. If your striker is practising taking a penalty, you might get the rest of the team trying to put him or her off. Or you might get the team to practise the situation where a player has been sent off.
One thing that helps to get and keep you in the zone is to concentrate on the visual aspects of the task. The subconscious brain relies on feedback from the senses, and especially sight.
David Donner