The Performance Cortex: How Neuroscience Is Redefining Athletic Genius

by Zach Schonbrun

“A must-read for the cerebral sports fan…like Moneyball except nerdier. Much nerdier.”
--Sports Illustrated

Why couldn't Michael Jordan, master athlete that he was, crush a baseball? Why can't modern robotics come close to replicating the dexterity of a five-year-old? Why do good quarterbacks always seem to know where their receivers are?

On a quest to discover what actually drives human movement and its spectacular potential, journalist, sports writer, and fan Zach Schonbrun interviewed experts on motor control around the world. The trail begins with the groundbreaking work of two neuroscientists in Major League Baseball who are upending the traditional ways scouts evaluate the speed with which great players read a pitch. Across all sports, new theories and revolutionary technology are revealing how the brain's motor control system works in extraordinary talented athletes like Stephen Curry, Tom Brady, Serena Williams, and Lionel Messi; as well as musical virtuosos, dancers, rock climbers, race-car drivers, and more.

Whether it is timing a 95 mph fastball or reaching for a coffee mug, movement requires a complex suite of computations that many take for granted--until they read The Performance Cortex . Zach Schonbrun ushers in a new way of thinking about the athletic gifts we marvel over and seek to develop in our own lives. It's not about the million-dollar arm anymore. It's about the million-dollar brain.

Genres: Science, Sports, Psychology, Nonfiction, Baseball, Neuroscience, Audiobook

341 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2018

Reviews

[john h herman · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book doesn’t deliver what it promises.

The book starts off well explaining some basic concepts of neuroscience. It describes some aspects of brain imaging and EEG relative to performance and motor tasks. But then the book seems to get lost to tell me more about neuroscience that seems Irrelevant. It Never comes back to its main premise to explain the performance cortex.

[Steve Nolan · Rating 1 out of 5]

The subtitle is pretty misleading! The book's mostly just a summary of neuroscience research that sometimes espouses on how that might impact sports, someday. Book seems just a teensy bit too early to really say anything. There were also a lot of really weird phrasing tics? Idk it was prolly a 2 but I'm just being mean.

[Giacomo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not groundbreaking, but interesting and easy to read. Research on the subject and our understanding of athletic performance are still very much in their infancy, but the hope is that books like this will spark future interest. The ending feels abrupt and unrelated to the heading of the last chapter (perhaps more appropriate as an epilogue). Finally, it would have been nice to have a proper conclusion (somewhat lacking as is), bringing the whole book together and hinting at (or at least asking) where we might go from here.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting mashup of the history of neuroscience and efforts to use neuroscience to improve training and scouting in sports, with an emphasis on baseball. Both topics are of interest to me, but the book jumps around a fair bit. Sports are the basis for a lot of the questions the author asks, and he talks about what some companies or researchers are doing to try to answer those questions. However, it seems like he ran into a wall in terms of access, because we often never really hear the outcomes of those stories. Instead, we are often treated to an interlude into the history of neuroscience, and those neuroscience discussions become more and more the focus of the book as it goes on. I did feel like this sometimes resulted in an apparent lack of focus, both within chapters (subject changes and repetition are common) and in the book as a whole. It seems like what this is really meant to be is a book about the neuroscience of movement. However, the first half of the book, or thereabouts, tries to make it about training or scouting in baseball, even if we never really get to the outcome of those efforts. That said, there are wonderful tidbits in this book, particularly on the neuroscience end. I teach an undergraduate neuroscience course, and some of the examples will go into my course. That's a good outcome for me for the time I invested reading.

[Kenneth J. Meier · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a sports book

This is a long tedious book on neurology with only brief links to sports. Long historical chapters in the field and very few applications to performance and sports . A total waste of money.

[Allen Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://www.themaineedge.com/sports/th...

What is it that truly defines athletic genius?

While there’s no doubt that physique and physicality play massive roles in what makes a successful athlete, there’s more to it than that. True sporting greatness springs from not just one’s body, but also that body’s connection with the brain.

In his new book “The Performance Cortex: How Neuroscience is Redefining Athletic Genius,” Zach Schonbrun attempts to explore that connection; it’s a deep dive into the neuroscience behind movement that attempts to develop an understanding of the body-brain relationship and determining how the relationship impacts those performing at an elite athletic level.

(Be warned – it gets pretty wonky, loaded with jargon and some fairly sophisticated science discussion. But even when it gets REALLY nerdy, it remains engaging for the lay reader.)

Professional sports franchises are constantly on the hunt for anything that will give them an edge. However, those same franchises often struggle with any idea that in any way upsets the established paradigm. Basically, they want to have their cake and eat it too – they want to make improvements without actually changing their philosophy in any significant way.

The unofficial “stars” of this story are probably Jason Sherwin and Jordan Muraskin, founders of a startup called deCervo. Their plan? To gather neurological data that will provide insight into a heretofore unparsed question – what happens in the brain to allow a big-league hitter to actually hit a ball?

It sounds simple – and for many years, the MLB attitude was basically “See the ball, hit the ball” and that was that – but it turns out that there’s a lot happening on a neurological level during that process. And by measuring and quantifying that activity, the thought is that such information can potentially be used in a variety of ways – from improving the performance of current players to informing which future prospects are pursued going forward.

Alongside Sherwin and Muraskin’s journey to evolve their methods and develop relationships with MLB teams that are both intrigued by and skeptical of the benefits of this science, Schonbrun explores further. He offers up a bit of history behind the idea of the body-brain connection, a concept that has been subject to a surprising amount of controversy over the years … at least, when people have bothered with what many long considered an unexciting field of study.

Schonbrun also spends time with a number of prominent current figures in the field, which allows for a depth of intellectual engagement that you don’t always find in this kind of ostensibly pop-science work. He’s unafraid to challenge you a little; it gets pretty – forgive the phrase – inside baseball at times. It’s a bit rigorous, but it’s really satisfying to put in a little work and gain actual insight as opposed to keeping things on the surface level.

And of course, there’s plenty of overlap with the athletic world. We get to see the direct connection between research and players a la operations like deCervo. But we also get to do some indirect exploration in terms of considering what role the brain plays in this kind of brilliance. How does Tom Brady do what he does in the way that he does it? Stephen Curry doesn’t have the elite athletic gifts of some of his peers, so how does he outperform them? Why did Michael Jordan – a consensus all-time great athlete – struggle so mightily when he moved from the basketball court to the baseball field? The science at play in “The Performance Cortex” doesn’t fully answer these questions, but it offers some thoughtful hypotheses and loads of useful context.

There’s a freewheeling style to Schonbrun’s work here that seems as though it should be a less-than-ideal fit, and yet – it works. The writer does a remarkable job flipping back and forth between jargon-laden academic conversation and the laconic flow of the locker room. The blend of nerdese and jock talk is reminiscent of a happy ending in a college comedy – two great tastes that surprisingly taste great together.

“The Performance Cortex” isn’t a book that is going to float everyone’s boat. Schonbrun goes in a lot of different directions and simply expects you to follow along – that’s not going to work for every reader. However, anyone with an interest in the brain-body connection – whether it’s on the playing field or in everyday life – is going to find it utterly fascinating.

[Boni · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, this is Moneyball on steroids. The science of baseball is taken to the n-th degree by Zach Schonbrun in a way-too cerebral (LOL) way, as he throws a lot of brain and neurology lingo around as though we were Columbia Unviersity med students ( or more so researchers). Irregardless, the scattering of this research tied to sports is so intriguing for this sports fan. I found myself googling the science of pitching a slurve versus a circle changeup to even better appreciate the explanation (herein) of hitting.

I loved how Ted Williams seminal 1971 book, The Science of Hitting is referenced, with the myth being broken that Terrible Ted did not actually see the seams of the ball as it left his bat. But his lifetime .344 average is explained (the hard work of studying pitcher tendencies) that the author uses to compare to Michael Jordan’s .202 in only AA ball, well below the Mendoza line… but he packs stadiums, right? So how can fat, drinking, smoking, John Kruk tower statistically over MJ with that enviable lifetime .300 average, (even better than Mickey Mantle’s .298)? And holy cow, thanks for the cool cocktail-party knowledge shared that most hitters start their swing only 19.5 ft from the ball rushing to the plate, and losing sight 5 ft before it arrives? Awesome sciency stuff for us sports nerds, but maybe too detailed… “O-Z Swing rate was anti-correlating with correct No-Go”?… despite that detail, I do hope they soon examine other sports with that detail too.

Cool to know… it’s a common misconception that we only use 10% of our brain. We use 100% all the time! (All 86 billion neurons.)

So this book is obviously a treat to a small niche of people, and I unfortunately only fit into the locker room niche, not the neuroscience half of the brain, which makes up the lion’s share of this book. I did like that anecdote of Manny Ramirez being sold on his pregame ritual of catching the right colored waffle ball on the frisbee, priceless… that’s not just “Manny being Manny”… that’s ‘Manny being science-smarty’. In fact, the use by many athletes (like Matt Ryan) of NeuroTracker out of the University of Montreal shows how getting that edge through constant development of motor skill memory helps them edge towards 10,000 hours is reaching the mainstream. But far too little sports connection… maybe too early to report more studies on? For me, a quick read because so much was repetitive or too scientific.

[Viviane Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many years ago, I recall reading an article about how Tiger Woods learned to golf so well by the scientific methods taught to him by his father. Curious, I never pursued that interesting fact, but it came to mind again with this book about the brain and athletic performance. The brain can be trained for athletic performance up to a certain age, exemplified by the author’s reference to Michael Jordan who had an interest in baseball but couldn’t grow in the required skills and yet had what was needed for baseball.
Dagmar Sternad has an Action Lab at Northeastern University. Here she experimented with the game skittles, demonstrating how timing from the brain and physiology conspires to make us winners or losers and how movement or kinetic patterns and features could be retained for up to eight years. There is also an interesting discussion of skills that are learned and involve brain activity but can not develop further because of “habit” that negates any further learning curve from progressing. This involves “action controllers, “automatization” or even “muscle memory” as an action or sequence of actions that get formed, reorganized and consolidated in our long-term memory. And so it goes.
These are a few of the examples and explanations that tell the story of athletic and normal action in an understandable presentation, such as the reflex arc, the feed-forward loop of sensory-to-motor connections that trigger everyday actions or the position of neural swing decisions in baseball, tennis and volleyball serves.
The factor of intention is also discussed as in using a scalpel to operate or to murder. The same applies about these motor skills applied to kinematics or movement. All in all, “stimulus-response connections build up a nervous system of sets which function like cognitive maps.”
The authors even describe how “virtual arms” learn to operate or are taught by science to understand the training behind using these prostheses.
Anyone interested in physical activity, sports, coaching etc. will find this book fascinating and interesting for practice or just understanding the theories and applications that apply when playing or watching sports. Highly recommended and engaging science in a credible, readable book. Nicely done, Zach Schonbrun!

[Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like to read books outside my comfort zone, and this was certainly one of them. Very interesting to see how little we know about the brain, but I will say that the author does a poor job of tying together what we do know to paint a picture of where neuroscience is headed (or even where it stands now). There was extensive coverage of past theories and where they failed, and it seemed that the point was to emphasize the idea that we see "on the shoulders of giants". It might be a failing of the field itself, though. It's very difficult to know where thoughts come from, or what is controlling them. I think the take away is that the truth lies in between the extremes of theories out there now.

One huge criticism I have of this author is his assumption we know literally anything about the brain's structure. He often says that "X" part of the brain shows a lot of activity when carrying out "Y" task, which is thought provoking by "X" is located near "Z". I think the point is to show how efficient our brain is - parts that are located near each other are more likely to communicate, but more of than not his jargon just makes me roll my eyes. Worth the read, but certainly not "light" reading throughout (I kept google open for all the scientific terms/theories he nonchalantly threw around)

[Jeff Wong · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting book. The author does not seem to know what type of book he wanted to write -- a sports performance book or a business/start-up narrative (how to market and sell a new product) or a neuroscience treatise on movement and athletic performance -- and the result is a little of all three, with a scientific mystery chapter thrown in for good measure. It partially works; there is probably too much neuroscience for a sports performance reader and clearly not enough neuroscience for an neuropsychologist or a performance coach. The start-up company that he chronicles, Decervo, has an interesting approach to Major League Baseball that uses EEG sensors to measure when a hitter decides to swing or not. The premise is that this device can assess whether or not the hitter has the underlying natural ability to make accurate and early enough decisions swinging to be successful in the major leagues. And if not, the use of the device may be able to train the hitter to be more successful (using a simulation/game video set up). It's a pretty decent book all told with the caveats as mentioned above.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My appreciation of athletic genius has tripled, quadrupled, or more after reading The Performance Cortex: How Neuroscience Is Redefining Athletic Genius. Much more than hand-eye coordination or muscle strength or even a passion for the game, genius takes on many other elements of the human body/brain gifts given. The brain is an amazing part of the athletic genius in greats like Tom Brady, Michael Jordan, or Lionel Messi.

The book focuses in part on neuroscientists, Jordan Muraskin and Jason Sherwin, who study the science behind the game of baseball. Their company deCervo is assisting, through neuroscience, baseball athletes in their quest to achieve their greatest potential.

A fascinating read, although, admittedly not for everyone. Sports fans, undoubtedly will find it amazing and just may change their own views of what makes us genius.

Includes Acknowledgements, Sources, Selected Bibliography, and Index.

[Christina Dudley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some very interesting bits and some very technical bits. It was a nice change to read a brain book that was about motion instead of cognition, and one that filled you with amazement at what we're actually able to do, and how miraculous it all is.

Despite the title, it's not just about "redefining athletic genius," though there is a fair amount about hitting baseballs and a baseball startup trying to gauge pitch recognition time and whether or not to swing.

A good read for those considering going into PT or bioengineering.

[Price · Rating 4 out of 5]

It appears that there are applications in sports that measure performance, decision-making, and physical responses in milliseconds. There also appears to be a growing body on knowledge and scientific research that can potentially shave off milliseconds in performance and enhance the overall outcome.
I enjoyed the book and the research that went into it. Minor criticism was that a portion of the last third of the book read like a reading list for a neuroscience class. But the book ended on a high note.

[David John · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOAH, I heard about this book on a podcast, it seemed interesting and within a week of buying it, I read the whole thing cover to cover. Most of the material was easy to comprehend on the first read through, but I will need to go back to my highlights and take more notes. Honestly this was a tough book to put down and it is very applicable for coaches in any sport. This book was also helpful with expanding my understanding of skill acquisition, since I only ever briefly touched on that in some of my courses instead of sitting for a Neuromotor course in grad school.

[Danny Knobler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating

Great work by my friend Zach. He gets a little heavy into the science, so if that’s not your thing you may not love it. But he has still come up with a fascinating book on a topic that is only likely to become more important in sports. Teams are looking to train the brain along with the muscles. You can bet they also want to evaluate brains along with every physical skill.

[David Meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the concept and through parts of the book, it works nicely. At other times, it feels like reading a complicated textbook, as the author gets caught up in jargon that they should probably explain more clearly to any laypeople reading the book. It's definitely changed my thought process when watching baseball, and has me truly amazed that anyone in the world can regularly hit a baseball thrown by professional pitchers.

[Camille Koenig · Rating 2 out of 5]

Un résumé assez léger de l'état actuel des sciences censé être adapté pour des lecteurs plutôt néophytes dans le domaine. On regrette le manque de schémas explicatifs, les explications sur le baseball dès le départ très floues pour un non-initié et les chapitres dont le rapport avec le sport sont vagues. Le résumé était prometteur mais le livre bien que rapide à lire n'est pas à la hauteur de ses espérances, dommage.

[Lynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting subject, for me. Learned a lot about how our brains work with our muscles. I'll admit that toward the end I got a bit bogged down in all the science, but overall I think the author did a great job using metaphors and stories to make the science comprehensible. A focus on baseball (a plus for me) but the book also discusses other sports/motor activities and ends with a chapter on using implants to enable a man with paralysis to move his arm by thinking about it. Intriguing!

[Tommy Shavers · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Good Read.

A really good read that takes you on an interesting journey about the brain from the perspective of human performance and movement.

The people stories, progress of the science, and the applications to human performance were interwoven very well throughout.

Worth the read.

[Dan Watts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Proof that you can't judge a book by its cover: this one actually has little to do with sports. The majority of the book is about research into neuroscience, stretching back to the 19th century. It occasionally circles back to attempts made by a couple of companies to measure and improve the neural system's response time, but it wouldn't seem that they've made much headway.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book discusses the many applications of neuroscience in sports. I also appreciated the skepticism discussed in the book that analyzes the construct validity and external validity of these methods.

[Deedra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started out really interesting. Some really great chapters, but it really lost me in the end. Very interesting science behind neuro and sports. Something I'm definitely interested in learning more about.

[Warren Dunham · Rating 4 out of 5]

a fascinating telling of of how recent new info on motor movement on the brain has been u6tilized to help base ball. Ok maybe i just love this sort of thing

[Ben · Rating 1 out of 5]

90% literature/history review, 10% actual application to baseball

[Noelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a Chiropractor (knowing the brain and spine controls movement) and a huge sports fan, this is a fascinating read with some interesting sports examples.
(Dragged on a bit though)

[Jacob Langford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great topic and interesting facts. Gets very technical and sometimes off topic and some chapters seem like a different book. Not as much baseball in there as the cover or description suggests.

[Dave McFadden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read if you like examining mind related impact on sportsing

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hitting a baseball has often been called the hardest thing in sports. When you're talking about professional baseball, the batter has milliseconds to take in the information about the placement and type of pitch that's coming at him, make a judgment on if the pitch is hittable, assess the probabilities of the success of the hit, and make the movements necessary to connect with the ball. It's an unbelievably complex process, and yet you can see hundreds of examples in any major league baseball game any night of the summer. 

Why does all this matter? For several reasons, according to sports writer Zach Schonbrun. First of all, it matters to anyone in baseball (including us fans sitting in the stands or in bars or in homes cheering on our favorite players) because it opens up opportunities for our batters to improve and for the next generation of players with the brains of master ball strikers to be scouted to our favorite teams. But beyond the baseball diamond, these principles can be expanded to help anyone improve any set of skills they want. Using the ideas in Schonbrun's book The Performance Cortex, musicians can learn to play more proficiently, bakers can decorate their cakes more efficiently, and knitters can wield their needles with more speed and accuracy than before. 

This book is a deep dive--way way deep--into the neuroscience of performance. Schonbrun takes us on a journey through all different areas of brain science that could apply to making a good ball player better. He takes us through probability and prediction, expertise and experience, movement and motion, schemas and skills. The research is impeccable and extensive and offers science-based answers for all the questions you could ever possibly think of. You know it's going to be a compelling tool when sports and business shark Mark Cuban has been seen toting it around, and indeed this book is a powerhouse of information. 

This is not a quick read. In fact, I think some of my grad school textbooks were easier to digest, but each chapter brings a new and interesting level of understanding as well as host of fascinating brain scientists from around the world that keep the stories personable and personal. Where Moneyball looked at the new data-driven model of sports management, The Performance Cortex takes us to the next level, the brain science based model of sports management. In short, this is the future of your favorite baseball team. 

But most importantly, if Zach Schonbrun and his neuroscientist friends can bring my beloved Kansas City Royals back to the level of that 2015 World Series win, then this book is the best sports book ever! 



The Performance Cortex was provided to me by Dutton, with many thanks. 

[Cliff · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Performance Cortex is very good at making a difficult topic understandable to almost any audience. While the topic deals with groundbreaking technology for sports mostly it also educates the reader about human behavior and what can and can't be modified. I also shows that certain qualities that athletes have when referred to as "he has that very rare feel for … that can't be taught" is indeed quantifiable . While innate talent is just that, the components can be taken apart, analyzed, and taught to others in varying degrees.
A must read for sports junkies, those interested in the mind and its workings and for those who just want to expand their knowledge..
I have recommended this book to many friends and to a person have been thanked for doing so.

[Matias Andres · Rating 1 out of 5]

All filler