Beyond the neural underpinnings of action emulation in expert athletes: An EEG study

IF 2 3区 心理学 Q3 BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
Saskia Wilken , Adriana Böttcher , Christian Beste , Markus Raab , Sven Hoffmann
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Abstract

Athletes specializing in sports demanding rapid predictions and hand-eye coordination are highly trained in predicting the consequences of motor commands. This can be framed as highly efficient action emulation, but the neural underpinnings of this remain elusive. We examined the neural processes linked to the training effect of athletes (4000 h of training) by employing a continuous pursuit tracking task and EEG data. We manipulated feedback availability by intermittently occluding the cursor. As a performance measure, we used the distance between cursor and target (position error), the angle between the cursor and target movement direction (direction error) and the magnitude of cursor acceleration (acceleration error) to quantify movement strategy. In EEG data, we investigated beta, alpha, and theta frequency band oscillations. Athletes' position error is lower than non-athletes’ when there is no feedback about the cursor location, but direction error is not. We found no quantitative power differences in the investigated frequency bands, but evidence that athletes and non-athletes accomplish action emulation through different functional neuroanatomical structures, especially when alpha and beta band activity is concerned. We surmise that non-athletes seemed to rely on top-down inhibitory control to predict guesses on cursor trajectories in the absence of cursor position feedback. In contrast, athletes might benefit from enhanced inhibitory gating mechanisms in the ventral stream and the integration of sensory and motor processes in the insular cortex, which could provide them with processing advantages in computing forward models. We further reflect that this advantage might be supported by alpha band activity in athletes' motor cortex, suggesting less inhibitory gating and a higher likelihood of executing integrated sensorimotor programs. We posit that current framings of neuroanatomical structures and neurophysiological processes in the action emulation framework must be revised to better capture superior motor performance.
超越专业运动员动作模拟的神经基础:脑电图研究。
专门从事要求快速预测和手眼协调的运动的运动员在预测运动命令的后果方面受过高度训练。这可以被定义为高效的动作模拟,但其神经基础仍然难以捉摸。我们通过使用连续追踪任务和脑电图数据,研究了与运动员(4000小时训练)训练效果相关的神经过程。我们通过间歇性地阻塞光标来操纵反馈的可用性。作为一种性能度量,我们使用光标与目标之间的距离(位置误差)、光标与目标移动方向之间的角度(方向误差)以及光标加速度的大小(加速度误差)来量化移动策略。在脑电图数据中,我们研究了β、α和θ频带振荡。在没有光标位置反馈的情况下,运动员的位置误差小于非运动员,但方向误差小于非运动员。我们在所调查的频带中没有发现定量的功率差异,但有证据表明运动员和非运动员通过不同的功能神经解剖结构完成动作模拟,特别是当α和β带活动有关时。我们推测,在没有光标位置反馈的情况下,非运动员似乎依赖于自上而下的抑制控制来预测光标轨迹的猜测。相比之下,运动员可能受益于腹侧流的抑制性门控机制增强以及岛叶皮层感觉和运动过程的整合,这可能为他们在计算正向模型方面提供加工优势。我们进一步反映,这种优势可能是由运动员运动皮层的α带活动支持的,这表明较少的抑制性门控和更高的执行综合感觉运动计划的可能性。我们认为,目前的框架的神经解剖结构和神经生理过程的动作模拟框架必须修订,以更好地捕捉优越的运动性能。
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来源期刊
Neuropsychologia
Neuropsychologia 医学-行为科学
CiteScore
5.10
自引率
3.80%
发文量
228
审稿时长
4 months
期刊介绍: Neuropsychologia is an international interdisciplinary journal devoted to experimental and theoretical contributions that advance understanding of human cognition and behavior from a neuroscience perspective. The journal will consider for publication studies that link brain function with cognitive processes, including attention and awareness, action and motor control, executive functions and cognitive control, memory, language, and emotion and social cognition.
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