Predicting domain-specific actions in expert table tennis players activates the semantic brain network

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Sports Science
• Cognitive Psychology

Background:

• Motor expertise enhances action outcome prediction in athletes.
• The neural basis of action anticipation at abstract levels is not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether expert athletes encode actions at both sensorimotor and conceptual levels.
• To compare brain activity in expert and nonexpert table tennis players during action anticipation tasks.

Main Methods:

• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to measure brain activity.
• Participants predicted ball trajectories from videos of table tennis serves with manipulated body kinematics and ball trajectory congruence.
• Brain activation was analyzed comparing congruent versus incongruent video conditions in experts and novices.

Main Results:

• Expert players showed greater activation in sensorimotor areas (precentral and postcentral gyri) for incongruent vs. congruent videos.
• Experts also exhibited greater activation in semantic processing regions (angular gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, ventromedial prefrontal cortex).
• Novices did not show the same pattern of activation in these areas.

Conclusions:

• Action anticipation in expert table tennis players involves both semantic and sensorimotor brain regions.
• Skilled action observation in sports relies on predictions at both motor-kinematic and conceptual levels.
• Expertise modulates how the brain processes observed actions for prediction.