Neural Correlates of Temporal Preferences in Tactical Choices Among Soccer Players

In soccer tactical decision making, intertemporal decision making is a central mechanism for coaches and athletes to weigh different courses of action at different points in time. When this type of temporal decision-making requires the assessment of probabilistic factors (e.g., judging the timing of offense or predicting the risk of defense), risky intertemporal choice (RID) is formed, which is important for revealing the athletes' temporal preferences and behavioral prediction. However, there are certain limitations in the current research on temporal preference in soccer tactical decision-making, namely, the problem of adapting the traditional monetary decision-making model to tactical choice scenarios. In this study, we innovatively designed tactical choice experiments to reveal the unique cognitive features and neural mechanisms of athletes in tactical risk intertemporal choice decision-making by comparing it with money decision-making.