The mind of expert motor performance is cool and focused (original) (raw)
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Neural processes distinguishing elite from expert and novice athletes
Cognitive and behavioral neurology : official journal of the Society for Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology, 2014
This commentary builds on a companion article in which Kim et al compare brain activation in elite, expert, and novice archers during a simulated target aiming task (Kim et al. 2014. Cogn Behav Neurol. 27:173-182). With the archery study as our starting point, we address 4 neural processes that may be responsible in general for elite athletes' superior performance over experts and novices: neural efficiency, cortical expansion, specialized processes, and internal models. In Kim et al's study, the elite archers' brains showed more activity in the supplementary motor area and the cerebellum than those of the novices and experts, and showed minimal widespread activity, especially in frontal areas involved with executive control. Kim et al's results are consistent with the idea of specialized neural processes that help coordinate motor planning and control. As athletes become more skilled, these processes may mediate the reduction in widespread activity in regions mappin...
Frontiers in Psychology, 2021
The meshed control theory assumes that cognitive control and automatic processes work together in the natural attention of experts for superior performance. However, the methods adopted by previous studies limit their capacity to provide in-depth information on the neuromotor processes. This experiment tested the theory with an alternative approach. Twelve skilled golfers were recruited to perform a putting task under three conditions: (1) normal condition, with no focus instruction (NC), (2) external focus of attention condition (EC), and (3) internal focus of attention condition (IC). Four blocks of 10 putts each were performed under each condition. The putting success rate and accuracy were measured and electroencephalographies (EEGs) were recorded. The behavioral results showed that the NC produced a higher putting success rate and accuracy than the EC and IC. The EEG data showed that the skilled golfers’ attentional processes in the NC initially resembled those in the EC and th...
Elite golfers are characterized by psychomotor refinement in cognitive-motor processes
Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 2020
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Brain Science in Context of the Golf Swing
Current golf dogma views the golf swing as a discreet, not a serial, motor action. Consequently golf swing teaching strategies are out of synch with those of complex motor skill development in other sports. The relevant points of divergence between modern golf concepts and cognitive neuroscience are discussed.
Sports expertise: Is nature or nurture to blame? No, it’s the brain!
For long, people have wondered about the reasons for the superior performance of elite athletes. As it seems, researchers have been divided between reasons that pertain to nature and those that pertain to nurture. More recently, more complex interactionist theories have come to light. These theories posit that both genes and environment contribute to the development of motor expertise in a non-linear way. It is possible that this discussion might never be resolved. Here, we propose that instead of concentrating on the reasons " why " , we concentrate on the " how " , i.e., brain function associated to motor expertise. There is much support for specific neural activation associated to expertise in sports. Here we discuss some of the main findings in this area and propose that by understanding the motor expert brain, we might optimize training and, ultimately, performance. Crucially, we suggest that neurofeedback techniques might constitute an important tool to achieve this.
Neural correlates of pre-performance routines in expert and novice archers
Neuroscience Letters, 2008
The objective of the present study was to determine differences in neural networks between expert and novice archers during an archery pre-performance routine period (PPR). The experiment was conducted with eight world-class competitor or Olympic medalist archers and eight novices. In the experiment, the task was to shoot (by clicking a mouse with the right hand) if an archery target appeared on an LCD embedded in an functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner. The resultant fMRI data showed that when the experts were aiming, the occipital gyrus and temporal gyrus were activated, but when the novices were aiming, the frontal area was mainly activated. In addition, the anterior cingulate and posterior cingulate gyrus of the limbic lobe were also activated in the expert and novice groups, respectively. Our results demonstrated that expert and novice archers differed in levels of brain activation during the PPR period of a simulated archery task.
2014
Background Although trainers and athletes consider 'good timing skills' to be critical for optimal sport performance, little is known in regard to how sport-specific skills may benefit from timing training. Thus, assuming that all motor performances are mediated by an internal timing mechanism, enhanced motor timing is expected to have positive effects on both planning and execution of movement performance, and consequently on complex sports actions as golf or soccer. Accordingly, in order to increase our knowledge of the importance of motor timing and possible effects of timing training, this thesis examines the effects of synchronized metronome training (SMT), thought to improve the execution of motor programs and to enhance motor skills in golf and soccer players. Methods Study I examined the effects of SMT on motor timing abilities and its potential effect on golf shot accuracy and consistency in 25 experienced male golfers. Additionally, Study II examined the effects of SMT on the spatiotemporal movement organisation and dynamics of the golf swing performance, as captured by kinematic measurements and analyses in thirteen male golfers. Study III examined the effect of SMT on accuracy and variability in a soccer specific, cross-pass task in elite and sub-elite female soccer players. Moreover, the underlying brain activity was assessed by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the corresponding neural activity when passively observing the cross-pass task, and the possible pre-to post training effects. Results SMT was shown to improve motor timing ability, by means of less timing asynchrony and with associated changes in timing variability, in both golf-and soccer-players. Additionally, significant improvements in golf shot and soccer cross-pass performance, by means of significant increase in outcome accuracy combined with a decrease in outcome variability was found. From the kinematic investigation in Study II, results indicate that improved motor timing, as an effect of SMT, lead to a more coordinated and dynamic swing performance, and with decreased variability in the temporal structure of the swing motion. Finally, it was found that SMT induces changes in the activity of the action observation network (AON), underpinning action observation and action prediction, by means of decreased activation within bilateral cerebellum, fusiform gyrus and superior temporal gyrus. These findings hint at a more efficient pattern of neural recruitment during action observation, after SMT. Conclusion In summary, this thesis provides evidence that four weeks of SMT improved the participant's motor timing and synchronization abilities, and showed influence on both behavioral and neurophysiological motor programs and skill performance in golf and soccer players. Thus, by improved outcome accuracy and decreased variability, affecting the coordinated movement pattern and organisation, as well as affecting the associated underlying brain activation.
Training-Induced Neural Plasticity in Golf Novices
The Journal of …, 2011
Previous neuroimaging studies in the field of motor learning have shown that learning a new skill induces specific changes of neural gray and white matter in human brain areas necessary to control the practiced task. Former longitudinal studies investigating motor skill learning have used strict training protocols with little ecological validity rather than physical leisure activities, although there are several retrospective and cross-sectional studies suggesting neuroprotective effects of physical leisure activities. In the present longitudinal MRI study, we used voxel-based morphometry to investigate training-induced gray matter changes in golf novices between the age of 40 and 60 years, an age period when an active life style is assumed to counteract cognitive decline. As a main result, we demonstrate that 40 h of golf practice, performed as a leisure activity with highly individual training protocols, are associated with gray matter increases in a task-relevant cortical network encompassing sensorimotor regions and areas belonging to the dorsal stream. A new and striking result is the relationship between training intensity (time needed to complete the 40 training hours) and structural changes observed in the parieto-occipital junction. Thus, we demonstrate that a physical leisure activity induces training-dependent changes in gray matter and assume that a strict and controlled training protocol is not mandatory for training-induced adaptations of gray matter.
Functional MRI reveals expert-novice differences during sport-related anticipation
Neuroreport, 2010
We examined the effect of expertise on cortical activation during sports anticipation using fMRI. In Experiment 1, while recreational players predicted badminton stroke direction, the pattern of active clusters was consistent with a proposed perception-of-action network. This pattern was not replicated in a stimulus-matched, action-unrelated control task. In Experiment 2, players of three different skill levels anticipated stroke direction from clips occluded either 160ms before or 80ms after racquet-shuttle contact. Early-occluded sequences produced more activation than lateoccluded overall, in most cortical regions of interest, but experts showed an additional enhancement in medial, dorsolateral and ventrolateral frontal cortex. Anticipation in open-skill sports engages cortical areas integral to observing and understanding others' actions; such activity is enhanced in experts.