VISION: The Most Important Sense
Vision is the most important sense for athletes. It accounts for 2/3 of the brain’s electrical activity when our eyes are open (that’s an astonishing 2 billion of the 3 billion firings every second). 50% of all neural tissue is directly or indirectly related to vision, and 30% of the brain’s cortex is involved in vision. You may find it hard to believe, but more neurons are dedicated to vision than to the other 4 senses combined.
When we talk about vision, we typically think of the vision that is measured on a chart in the doctor’s office. This is called visual acuity and measures the clarity of one’s vision. Some individuals have 20/20 vision, whereas other may have 20/15 or 20/10 vision (considered better than 20/20). The numerical system of measuring vision is really quite simple. 20/15 means that you see at 20 feet (the top number) what a “normal” person sees at 15 feet (the bottom number). Essentially, you can be further away from an object–20 feet away–and still see with the same clarity as the “normal” person viewing the object at 15 feet.
A small number of lucky athletes can obtain such vision without the need for corrective glasses or contacts. Whereas, others may need to wear glasses or contacts to obtain their best vision. Nowadays, vision correction surgery like LASIK can be used to help an individual obtain their best vision without the need for glasses or contacts.
The vision that is measured on an eye chart during a regular eye exam (the visual acuity or clarity) is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to measuring vision. There are 10 other aspects of vision that are critically important for peak athletic performance. Our brain training program measures these 10 visual-sensorimotor skills. Once your performance on these 10 skills have been assessed, your performance is compared to the performance of other athletes who play the same sport and position (at the same competitive level–high school, college, or professional). This data driven process reveals your strengths and weaknesses and serves as the basis for the creation of an individualized training program designed to help you improve.
Senaptec Sensory Station & Strobes
NIKE, the same company that makes athletic shoes and apparel had an engineering team that created the sensory station and strobe goggles (they used to be called NIKE Vapor Goggles). NIKE’s management decided to focus their efforts on shoes and apparel and the technical team branched off to create a new company called Senaptec. Senaptec continued to perfect the technologies and grow their unique database of athletes which has its roots at NIKE’s headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon. The Senaptec Sensory Station and Strobe Goggles are an integral part of our program at Neurosportz. It is one of the fundamental tools we will use to assess your baseline performance and train your brain for peak performance.
