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Ji Q, Liu L, Lu Y, Zhou C, Wang Y. Mechanisms of Action Anticipation in Table Tennis Players: A Multivoxel Pattern Analysis Study. Neuroscience 2024; 546:33-40. [PMID: 38513759 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2024.03.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2023] [Revised: 03/11/2024] [Accepted: 03/17/2024] [Indexed: 03/23/2024]
Abstract
An exceptional ability to accurately anticipate an opponent's action is paramount for competitive athletes and highlights their experiential mastery. Despite conventional associations of action observation with specific brain regions, neuroimaging discrepancies persist. To explore the brain regions and neural mechanisms undergirding action anticipation, we compared distinct brain activation patterns involved in table tennis serve anticipation of expert table tennis athletes vs. non-experts by using both univariate analysis and multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA). We collected functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 29 table tennis experts and 34 non-experts as they pressed a button to predict the trajectory of a ball in a table tennis serve video truncated at the moment of racket-ball contact vs. pressing any button while viewing a static image of the first video frame. MVPA was applied to assess whether it could accurately differentiate experts from non-experts. MVPA results indicated moderate accuracy (90.48%) for differentiating experts from non-experts. Brain regions contributing most to the differentiation included the left cerebellum, the vermis, the right middle temporal pole, the inferior parietal cortex, the bilateral paracentral lobule, and the left supplementary motor area. The findings suggest that brain regions associated with cognitive conflict monitoring and motor cognition contribute to the action anticipation ability of expert table tennis players.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qingchun Ji
- Department of Physical Education, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, No. 333, Longteng Road, Songjiang District, Shanghai 201620, People's Republic of China; Sports Economic Management Research Center, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, No. 333, Longteng Road, Songjiang District, Shanghai 201620, People's Republic of China
| | - Likai Liu
- School of Psychology, Shanghai University of Sport, No. 650, Qingyuanhuan Road, Yangpu District, Shanghai 201620, People's Republic of China; Key Laboratory of Motor Cognitive Assessment and Regulation, Shanghai University of Sport, No. 650, Qingyuanhuan Road, Yangpu District, Shanghai 201620, People's Republic of China
| | - Yingzhi Lu
- School of Psychology, Shanghai University of Sport, No. 650, Qingyuanhuan Road, Yangpu District, Shanghai 201620, People's Republic of China; Key Laboratory of Motor Cognitive Assessment and Regulation, Shanghai University of Sport, No. 650, Qingyuanhuan Road, Yangpu District, Shanghai 201620, People's Republic of China
| | - Chenglin Zhou
- School of Psychology, Shanghai University of Sport, No. 650, Qingyuanhuan Road, Yangpu District, Shanghai 201620, People's Republic of China; Key Laboratory of Motor Cognitive Assessment and Regulation, Shanghai University of Sport, No. 650, Qingyuanhuan Road, Yangpu District, Shanghai 201620, People's Republic of China
| | - Yingying Wang
- School of Psychology, Shanghai University of Sport, No. 650, Qingyuanhuan Road, Yangpu District, Shanghai 201620, People's Republic of China; Key Laboratory of Motor Cognitive Assessment and Regulation, Shanghai University of Sport, No. 650, Qingyuanhuan Road, Yangpu District, Shanghai 201620, People's Republic of China.
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Ji Q, Zhou C, Wang Y. Influence of conflicting prior information on action anticipation in soccer players: an ERP study. Front Behav Neurosci 2023; 17:1320900. [PMID: 38131060 PMCID: PMC10733450 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1320900] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2023] [Accepted: 11/24/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Objective Prior probability information and visual kinematic information are essential for action anticipation in athletes. The aims of this study were to examine how conflicting prior information influences anticipatory judgment in athletes vs. non-athletes and to explore the underlying cognitive mechanisms. Methods The aim of Experiment 1 was to determine the moment when prior information influenced action anticipation in athletes vs. non-athletes. To that end, 17 semi-elite soccer goalkeepers and 18 non-athletes received prior information about the probability of the direction that a player on a video would kick a ball into the goal. Participants then anticipated the trajectory of the ball when the action of the player's kick on the video was truncated at the moment the foot contacted the ball (time T) or one frame (T-1; 50 ms) or two frames (T-2; 100 ms) before the foot-ball contact. The aim of Experiment 2 was to elucidate the adaptive cognitive-motor behavior exhibited by highly trained soccer players at the moment when their anticipatory performance was most influenced by prior information. Experiment 2 included 27 different semi-elite soccer players with many years of experience as a goalkeeper and 27 different non-athletes. Participants anticipated the direction of the kick when the kinematic action of the kicker at the moment the anticipatory performance of the participants was most influenced by prior information (as determined in Experiment 1) was congruent, incongruent, or neutral. Action anticipation accuracy and response time were evaluated for both experiments, whereas event-related potential components N1, N2, and P3 were assessed only in Experiment 2. Results The results of Experiment 1 showed that anticipatory accuracy was significantly higher among athletes than non-athletes and that anticipatory accuracy with directional information given was significantly higher than that when no prior information was given or when prior information without directional information was given (p < 0.001) for both T-1 (p's ≤ 0.034) and T-2 (p's < 0.001) occlusion points. In Experiment 2 using those two video occlusion times, the amplitude of the N1 component, which reflects selective attention to stimulus properties, was significantly higher in athletes than in non-athletes (p < 0.001). The amplitude of the N2 component, which has been associated with conflict monitoring, for the incongruent condition was significantly higher than that for both neutral (p < 0.001) and congruent (p < 0.001) conditions in athletes. Non-athletes exhibited no significant N2 amplitude differences for any prior information condition. Conclusion Integrating prior information enhanced action anticipation in semi-elite soccer players, particularly 50 and 100 ms before the foot-ball contact. Semi-elite soccer players prioritized early selective attention and conflict monitoring of kinematic information, facilitating action anticipation using the prior information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qingchun Ji
- Department of Physical Education, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, Shanghai, China
- Sports Economic Management Research Center, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, Shanghai, China
| | - Chenglin Zhou
- School of Psychology, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China
- Key Laboratory of Motor Cognitive Assessment and Regulation, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China
| | - Yingying Wang
- School of Psychology, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China
- Key Laboratory of Motor Cognitive Assessment and Regulation, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China
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Wang Y, Ji Q, Zhou C, Wang Y. Brain mechanisms linking language processing and open motor skill training. Front Hum Neurosci 2022; 16:911894. [PMID: 35992938 PMCID: PMC9386041 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.911894] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2022] [Accepted: 07/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Given the discovery of a distributed language and motor functional network, surprisingly few studies have explored whether language processing is related to motor skill training. To address this issue, the present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to compare whole-brain activation between nonexperts and experts in table tennis, an open skill sport in which players make rapid decisions in response to an ever-changing environment. Whole-brain activation was assessed in 30 expert table tennis players with more than 7 years’ experience and 35 age-matched nonexpert college students while they performed both a size and a semantic judgment task of words presented on a monitor. Compared with nonexperts, expert table tennis players showed greater activation in the left middle occipital gyrus and right precuneus while judging the size of the words versus during baseline fixation. They also showed greater activation in the left lingual gyrus during the semantic judgment task versus during baseline fixation. Our findings indicate that the visual regions engaged in language processing are associated with open motor skill training.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yixuan Wang
- School of Psychology, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China
| | - Qingchun Ji
- Department of Physical Education, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, Shanghai, China
| | - Chenglin Zhou
- School of Psychology, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China
| | - Yingying Wang
- School of Psychology, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China
- *Correspondence: Yingying Wang,
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