The Effect of tRNS on Performance: A Pilot Study with a Skilled Air-Pistol Shooter

The aim of the study was to investigate the possible effects on the performance of a skilled shooter of the delivery of transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) to the right parietal and left frontal areas of the brain. An athlete (35- year-old male) with 16 years of shooting experience was involved in the study. The participant performed 40 shots in two different sessions (sham and tRNS) during which his performance was assessed using the SCATT shooter training system, while physiological and postural data were collected. Findings showed that tRNS stimulation can improve shooting performance. Considering heart rate as an index of arousal, it is evident that its increase during the tRNS is consistent with the hypothesis that arousal plays an important role in modulating selective attention. Probably this is caused by the increase of cognitive resources devoted to help, maintain, and sustain attention for the time necessary to perform the visual–spatial–motor task.