Technical readiness of young basketball players with different profile of functional asymmetry

Purpose The functional asymmetry is considered to be the basis of psycho physiological individual features of young basketball players. It indicates the dominant hemisphere while processing information concerning the precision in body movement in basketball playing technique. The research concerning the cerebral hemispheres asymmetry influence on the movement technique formation of young basketball players is still highly inconsistent. Therefore, the study aims at the determining technical readiness peculiarities of basketball players aged 12-13 with different cerebral asymmetry profiles while performing exercises with dominant and sub-dominant hands. Material 35 basketball players aged 12-13 have been tested in order to determine the type of cerebral asymmetry and technical readiness. To determine the cerebral asymmetry, the computer modified test of Stroop was used. In order to define technical readiness, three exercises which are performed using the right and left hand have been developed. Results Half of the group of basketball players aged 12-13 do not have a clear lateralization of the hemispheres: 51% of participants have symmetry of the hemispheres, 28% - the functional activity of the right hemisphere, and 20% - the left hemisphere activity. The study showed that shots of basketball players with the left cerebral lateralization are more accurate when performed with dominant hand. They prevail in the speed and accuracy parameters of passing and dribbling with both hands as well. Conclusions The many-sided nature of the interhemispheric asymmetry of basketball players aged 12-13 was determined. Its influence on technical readiness was found out. The highest level of technical readiness has been found among basketball players with the left hemisphere dominance. The lowest level of technical readiness was recorded among basketball players with the right hemisphere dominance. It was specified, that at the age of 12-13, the bimanual character of movements of young basketball players with left hemisphere dominance is being formed more actively.

The Politics of Cerebral Asymmetry and Racial Difference

Split-brain theorizing became the lingua franca of the 1970s and 1980s, with the left hemisphere considered the seat of rationality and language while the right hemisphere housed intuition and creativity. Expert and popular writing on cerebral asymmetry came to be directed to society’s privileged, who were encouraged to expand their right-brain potential with yoga, transcendental meditation, and biofeedback. At the same time, a substantial part of debates among neuropsychologists and related medical, social-scientific, and educational professionals revolved around the implications of such a revaluing of right-hemispheric skills specifically for African American, Latino, and Native American children. A remarkable array of experts began to affirm the existence of racial differences in intelligence while taking up a critique that “right-brained” (and often poor and minority) children were trapped in “left-brained” schools. Declaring IQ to be an inaccurate measure, psychologist Alan S. Kaufman in 1979 developed an influential alternative assessment scale specifically to expand what counted as intelligence and to include a range of creative, nonverbal, spatial, and emotional capacities—only to find that gaps in test scores between white and nonwhite children narrowed accordingly.