About

Edson Filho is an associate professor of sport, exercise, and performance psychology at Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. He is the director of the Performance Recovery & Optimization Lab (PRO Lab), a multidisciplinary research initiative that studies how athletes reach and maintain well-being and peak performance. Filho's research includes exploring how virtual reality can be used to train athletes, with findings indicating that virtual-reality training can enhance athletic performance by providing multisensory experiences. He has also investigated stress and burnout among high school athletes, particularly focusing on athletic and academic burnout during the preseason and postseason, and how insufficient rest during preseason may lead to long-term burnout. Filho has presented his research at international conferences such as the European Congress of Sport and Exercise Psychology (FEPSAC), where he and his students shared studies on brain functioning in high-performing athletes and the effects of peer leadership on team cohesion and confidence. His work emphasizes the importance of community, diversity, and global collaboration in the field of sport psychology.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Cognitive psychology
• Machine Learning
• Developmental psychology
• Medicine
• Physical therapy
• Audiology

Selected publications

• Searching for Flow: A Performance Optimization Intervention With a Professional Dart Thrower

  Case Studies in Sport and Performance Psychology · 2025-01-01 · 2 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  We report on a case study of an elite international-level dart thrower who reached out to the first author with hopes of decreasing his somatic anxiety symptoms and increasing his chances of experiencing flow during high-stakes competitions. Specifically, we describe the intake, need analysis, case formulation, and intervention delivery process and evaluation. The intervention program helped the client improve his performance (i.e., average points per game), experience more microflows, and decrease his somatic anxiety (i.e., hand shaking) symptoms. Proactive interventions and ongoing psychological skills training are recommended for professional athletes immersed in highly competitive settings.

  PublisherDOI

• Motivation for Adherence in Weight Training Past Adolescence in Women: An Exploratory Phenomenological Inquiry

  Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal · 2025-01-01

  articleSenior author

  Adolescent girls tend to experience more body dissatisfaction than boys. Strength training (ST) may help increase positive body image in adolescent girls, but it is uncommon for this population to participate in ST or adhere to an exercise program. Given this background, we aimed to explore the motivations for women who started ST in adolescence to continue ST participation over time. A secondary aim consisted of exploring the motivations underlying adolescents’ ST initiation and how these motivations changed over the years. Five women who started ST as adolescents and continued for 5+ years ( M = 12.6 years; SD = 6.2 years) participated in semistructured interviews. The themes that emerged were categorized into the following time points: initial onset, adherence, exit, and reentry. The themes related to ST initiation included environmental factors (e.g., role models) and physical self-esteem (e.g., negative perceived body attractiveness). The themes related to adherence included psycho-bio-social states (e.g., increased positive affect) and physical self-esteem (e.g., positive perceived physical strength). The themes related to exit from ST included health barriers, change events, and dysfunctional environment. The themes related to reentry into ST included adapt exercise parameters and change environment. These results suggest that physical self-perception and environmental factors contribute to ST initiation in adolescent girls, whereas perceived internal benefits of ST facilitate adherence. External obstacles may result in nonadherence, but individual behavior adaptations can help overcome these barriers. Collectively, findings of the current study shed light on the facilitators and barriers to initial participation and long-term ST adherence in girls and women.

  PublisherDOI

• Skill level influences the learning of a taekwondo-based serial task

  Human Movement Science · 2025-04-06 · 1 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Team Mental Models in Sports

  2025-06-17

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Early research on team dynamics in sports largely centered on the notion of team cohesion. For the past two decades, scholars and practitioners have been interested in how other socio-cognitive team constructs influence team outcomes. This socio-cognitive approach to team dynamics is the context from which the theoretical notion of team mental models (TMM) derives. In this chapter, the theoretical basis and measurement approaches of TMM are discussed. In addition, previous empirical research in sport and performance settings is reviewed, and recommendations for best practice and opportunities for future research are offered.

  PublisherDOI

• How different weekly game loads affect performance in elite women’s EuroLeague basketball

  International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport · 2025-09-05

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Mindfulness in sport, exercise, and performance psychology: an umbrella review and directions for future research

  International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology · 2025-05-02 · 4 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• The influence of social and task peer-leaders on team cohesion and collective efficacy in sports: a meta-analytical review

  Sport Sciences for Health · 2025-04-06 · 2 citations

  reviewSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Which factors define success during the basketball overtimes?

  International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching · 2025-01-12 · 1 citations

  article

  This study investigates how scoring before overtime and various contextual factors influence outcomes during overtime in three professional basketball leagues. We collected data from the National Basketball Association (NBA), Euroleague, and Spanish Professional League (ACB), consisting of n = 275, n = 37, and n = 59 games, respectively, and played in the seasons 2019–2022. Our analysis included variables such as the team that tied the score, game location, opponent strength, maximum point difference during the game, and the last five minutes of regulation play. Binomial logistic regression revealed that the team scoring the tying basket did not significantly affect overtime outcomes in any league. Notably, in the ACB league, game location and maximum point difference during the game were significant predictors, while in the Euroleague, keeping the game tight was crucial. In contrast, in the NBA, game location and opponent strength were pivotal. Our analysis of predictive accuracy showed differing results across leagues, with the ACB league exhibiting the highest accuracy. These differential results between leagues underscore the importance of tailoring coaching strategies to specific league dynamics, enabling teams to better prepare for the critical moments leading to overtime based on the influence of each contextual factor.

  PublisherDOI

• Learnings From the Collaborative Practices of Elite Sports Doubles Players: A Scoping Review

  Cureus · 2025-05-25

  reviewOpen access

  When healthcare teams fail to communicate clearly and follow through on shared plans, patient outcomes and clinician well-being are compromised. Although substantial research has explored the factors that contribute to effective team performance, far less is known about what supports or hinders the performance of the foundational unit within teams: the dyad. The effectiveness of dyads, such as the emergency nurse/emergency physician or midwife/obstetrician pair, is a critical determinant of clinician well-being, patient safety, and quality of care. Drawing inspiration from the coordinated efforts of elite tennis doubles teams, this review examines the collaborative behaviors of high-performing sporting duos and considers how those insights may inform dyadic functioning in healthcare. What can the commitment to practice and the high-stakes mindset of athletic partnerships teach us about what is required of clinical dyads? Using the frameworks of distributed cognition and relational coordination, we analyze how these athletes effectively distribute cognitive workload across individuals and their environments to optimize performance. A scoping review was conducted using Maastricht University's LibSearch, which includes PsycINFO, MEDLINE, the Education Resources Information Center, and Web of Science. Searches were carried out between March 13, 2020, and July 4, 2021. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines for scoping reviews, 14 studies met the inclusion criteria. From this review, five key categories of collaborative practices used by elite sports doubles teams to enhance teamwork emerged. These include performance evaluation, frequent and structured practice, ongoing feedback from coaches, developing a unique team culture that promotes a shared mindset, and recruitment strategies that prioritize prior experience and preexisting familiarity between partners. Based on these findings, the authors propose that adopting similar strategies in healthcare, particularly cultivating a distinct team culture grounded in shared cognitive frameworks, and prioritizing dyadic familiarity during recruitment, could meaningfully improve both dyadic and broader team performance in clinical environments.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• One mile at a time: the relationship between mindfulness, self-talk, and psychobiosocial affective states in collegiate cross-country athletes

  Journal for the Study of Sports and Athletes in Education · 2025-03-08

  articleSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Gershon Tenenbaum

  Reichman University

  35 shared

• Maurizio Bertollo

  University of Chieti-Pescara

  25 shared

• Claudio Robazza

  University of Chieti-Pescara

  20 shared

• Itay Basevitch

  Texas A&M University – Kingsville

  18 shared

• Selenia di Fronso

  University of Chieti-Pescara

  15 shared

• Eduardo Macedo Penna

  Universidade Federal do Pará

  14 shared

• Laura Bortoli

  University of Chieti-Pescara

  13 shared

• Lael Gershgoren

  College of Management Academic Studies

  11 shared

Education

• PhD in Sport Psychology, Educational Psychology and Learning Systems

  Florida State University

  2012

• Master of Sciences, Sport Sciences

  Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

  2007

• Bachelor of Science, Sport Sciences

  Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

  2005

Awards & honors

• Certified Mental Performance Consultant by the Association f…
• Established Supervisor and Established Practitioner register…