As this year’s Olympics draws to an end, governments around the world are hoping the games will motivate their countries’ young people to become the medal-winning athletes of the future. But though this sounds like a good idea, it is not enough incentive on its own.
In fact, studies show that motivation has almost no effect on how well you can learn to fence or swim. Improvements to your performance also have relatively little to do with innate ability. In the end, it’s all about how many training hours you put in – whether you wanted to or were forced into it by a coach or pushy parent.
In a study involving violinists (which also applies to athletes), scientists looked at the bits of the cortex connected to the musicians’ left and right hands. They found the bit of the brain which controls the left hand was slightly thicker than the part which controls the right hand.
This change in brain structure was not related to willpower or the motivation centres, which are found in the frontal cortex, but simply to hours and hours of repetitive practice. Perhaps those tough Olympic coaches are the ones who truly deserve a medal.
Dr Daniel Glaser is director of Science Gallery at King’s College London
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