Lisa Musculus-Schönenborn

Dr. Lisa Musculus-Schönenborn is a researcher at the Department of Performance Psychology at German Sport University Cologne. She investigates cognitive-motor interactions in sports, focusing on decision-making processes, talent development, and embodied cognition across soccer, climbing, esports, and table tennis.

Her research examines how cognitive and motor processes develop during childhood and contribute to sports expertise. Current projects investigate sport-specific cognitive processes in soccer players and interventions for performance under pressure.

Publications demonstrate methodological diversity including longitudinal training studies, kinematic analysis, and psychophysiological measures. Recent work examines reinvestment effects, VR-based training, and meta-analyses of sports decision-making.

• Awards include Best Dissertation (2019) and membership in the Junges Kolleg NRW (2023)
• Currently supervises 5 PhD projects on female athlete cognition, perceptual-cognitive development, and motor-cognitive performance
• Leads projects including in:prove (cognitive processes in Olympic sports) and KleVer (motor-cognitive development in climbing)
• Develops training protocols for executive functions in youth athletes

Teaches sport psychology, motor learning, and research methods at undergraduate and graduate levels.