Around the release, a consumer EEG headset gives compound archers a higher attention score than recurve archers

1 study · 8 archers measured

Each circle is a study: its position gives the year, its row whether it is for, against or context, its size how many participants it measured. Light circles are studies on other populations or without archers.

Only one study has compared compound and recurve archers with EEG while they shoot, and it finds a higher attention score in the compound archers at every point around the release: 62.45 against 45.37 at the shot, on a scale from 0 to 100. The sample is eight good club-standard archers from Zagreb, four with each type of bow, shooting fifteen arrows each at 18 metres with a consumer headset that has a single electrode on the forehead. The score comes from the manufacturer's unpublished algorithm, and the paper does not show how far it matches what its name suggests; the device's other score, for meditation or calm, is the same in both groups, at around 55. The comparison treats the 120 arrows as independent observations, so with four people per group the difference may come from who was shooting rather than from the bow. And within each group the score runs the opposite way to what attention would lead one to expect: it is higher on arrows scoring 8 than on those scoring 10, reaching 83.5 at release on the four compound arrows that scored 8.

Also phrased as: "compound versus recurve concentration"; "the compound needs more concentration"; "eeg attention in archers"; "brain waves compound recurve"; "eeg headset and concentration in archery"

In practice

It is often said that the compound demands narrower, more sustained concentration than the recurve, because with a release aid and a peep sight everything rests on holding the aim, while the recurve leaves more room for rhythm.

Evidence

2015
For Archers Published later

8 archers from a Zagreb club (4 recurve, 4 compound; mean season's best of 553.5 in the 18 m indoor round), 15 arrows each at 18 m on the triple face, NeuroSky MindWave Mobile headset with one electrode at Fp1: the attention score (0-100) is higher in the compound archers 2 s and 1 s before release, at release and 1 s after; at the shot 62.45 ± 15.17 against 45.37 ± 11.83, ANOVA p < 0.01 over 60 arrows per group. The same compound archers also have a higher heart rate at release, 111.48 against 103.18.

Heart rate values and levels of attention and relaxation in expert archers during shooting · Andrea Vrbik, Raphael Bene, Ivan Vrbik
2015
Context Archers Published later

In the same study the meditation score, which the manufacturer describes as mental calm, is practically the same in both groups: at the shot 56.38 ± 17.19 in the compound archers and 55.30 ± 15.68 in the recurve archers, with no significant difference at any of the four time points.

Heart rate values and levels of attention and relaxation in expert archers during shooting · Andrea Vrbik, Raphael Bene, Ivan Vrbik
2015
Context Archers Published later

Within each group the attention score at release is higher on arrows scoring 8 than on those scoring 10: in the compound archers 83.5 on the 4 arrows scoring 8, 59.26 on the 42 scoring 9 and 66.00 on the 14 scoring 10 (8 against 9 p = 0.002, 8 against 10 p = 0.036); in the recurve archers 47.00, 46.12 and 42.40, with no significant differences. What the score measures remains unclear, and the difference between bows may come from the four people in each group.

Heart rate values and levels of attention and relaxation in expert archers during shooting · Andrea Vrbik, Raphael Bene, Ivan Vrbik

Status history

1990 Not studied Nobody in the registry's bibliography has yet used EEG to compare attention in compound and recurve archers while they shoot. That the compound demands a different kind of concentration is an idea from the field, without a measurement.
2015 Reported The first comparison arrives: eight good club-standard archers from Croatia, four with each type of bow, shoot fifteen arrows at 18 metres wearing a single-electrode EEG headset, and the device's attention score, from 0 to 100, is higher in the compound archers at every point around the release, 62.45 against 45.37 at the shot. The meditation score, which the same device presents as calm, is the same in both groups. Four people per group with the arrows counted as independent, a commercial score whose exact meaning is unclear, and within the groups higher values on arrows scoring 8 than on those scoring 10: a single study in favour, and only just.

Cite

APA

Campagna, M. (2026). Around the release, a consumer EEG headset gives compound archers a higher attention score than recurve archers (Version 2). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/mind/eeg-attention-compound-recurve

BibTeX

@misc{campagna2026_attenzioneeegcompoundricurvo,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {Around the release, a consumer EEG headset gives compound archers a higher attention score than recurve archers},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/mind/eeg-attention-compound-recurve},
  note = {Version 2; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

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