Motor experience enhances dimension-specific action anticipation: Evidence from electroencephalography and computational modeling

Abstract

In fast-paced competitive sports, effective performance depends on the ability to anticipate opponents’ movements across multiple outcome dimensions, such as spin and direction. Although motor experience enhances action anticipation, the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying efficient anticipation of different outcome dimensions by experts remain unclear. In this study, 23 table tennis players and 31 controls completed a serve anticipation task involving spin and direction judgments. By combining behavioral measures with hierarchical drift diffusion modeling (HDDM) and multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) of electroencephalography (EEG), we examined the decision dynamics and neural representations underlying these anticipatory processes. Results revealed that spin and direction judgments engage dissociable cognitive and neural pathways. Athletes showed greater processing efficiency, reflected in faster evidence accumulation and enhanced strategic flexibility. MVPA further revealed dimension-specific spatiotemporal patterns of neural activity, with athletes exhibiting earlier decoding during the perceptual stages, and stronger and more stable top-down integration during the later stages. Our findings highlight how motor experience enhances dimension-specific information extraction and adaptive decision strategies, offering new insights into the neural basis of action prediction and the optimization of high-level athletic performance.