Knowledge of the psychophysiological responses that characterize optimal motor performance is required to inform biofeedback interventions. This experiment compared cortical, cardiac, muscular, and kinematic activity in 10 experts and 10 novices as they performed golf putts in low- and high-pressure conditions. Results revealed that in the final seconds preceding movement, experts displayed a greater reduction in heart rate and EEG theta, high-alpha, and beta power, when compared to novices. EEG high-alpha power also predicted success, with participants producing less high-alpha power in the seconds preceding putts that were holed compared to those that were missed. Increased pressure had little impact on psychophysiological activity. It was concluded that greater reductions in EEG high-alpha power during preparation for action reflect more resources being devoted to response programming, and could underlie successful accuracy-based performance.

This study investigated the temporal dynamics of emotional and cognitive processing underlying decision-making in moral judgment. Thirty-seven participants were presented with a set of 60 dilemmas varying in whether killing one individual was an intended means to save others (instrumental dilemmas) or a foreseen but unintended consequence (incidental dilemmas). Participants were required to decide between Options A (letting a specific number of people die) and B (killing one person to save a specific number of people). ERPs were recorded to a slide displaying the letters A and B while subjects were deciding between the options, and movement-related potentials were recorded time-locked to the behavioral response, thus allowing the investigation of both stimulus- and response-related processes during decision-making. Ratings of emotional valence and arousal experienced during decision-making were collected after each decision. Compared with incidental dilemmas, instrumental dilemmas prompted a lower number of B choices and significantly more unpleasant decisions. A larger P260 component was found in the frontopolar and frontal areas when subjects were deciding on instrumental than incidental dilemmas, possibly reflecting an immediate affective reaction during the early stage of assessment and formation of preferences between available options. On the other hand, decisions on incidental dilemmas required greater attentional resources during the fairly controlled later processing, as reflected in the larger slow wave amplitudes. In addition, facilitation of action selection and implementation was found for incidental dilemmas during the second stage of decision-making, as supported by the larger amplitudes of both components of the Bereitschaftspotential.

Practice of a motor skill results in improved performance and decreased movement awareness. The psychomotor efficiency hypothesis proposes that the development of motor expertise through practice is accompanied by physiological refinements whereby irrelevant processes are suppressed and relevant processes are enhanced. The present study employed a test–retest design to evaluate the presence of greater neurophysiological efficiency with practice and mediation analyses to identify the factors accounting for performance improvements, in a golf putting task. Putting performance, movement-specific conscious processing, electroencephalographic alpha power and alpha connectivity were measured from 12 right-handed recreational golfers (age: M = 21 years; handicap: M = 23) before and after 3 practice sessions. As expected, performance improved and conscious processing decreased with training. Mediation analyses revealed that improvements in performance were partly attributable to increased regional gating of alpha power and reduced cross-regional alpha connectivity. However, changes in conscious processing were not associated with performance improvements. Increased efficiency was manifested at the neurophysiological level as selective inhibition and functional isolation of task-irrelevant cortical regions (temporal regions) and concomitant functional activation of task-relevant regions (central regions). These findings provide preliminary evidence for the development of greater psychomotor efficiency with practice in a precision aiming task.

The Theory of Reinvestment argues that conscious processing can impair motor performance. The present study tested the utility of left temporal-frontal cortical connectivity as a neurophysiological marker of movement specific conscious processing. Expert and novice golfers completed putts while temporal-frontal connectivity was computed using high alpha Inter Site Phase Clustering (ISPC) and then analyzed as a function of experience (experts versus novices), performance (holed versus missed putts), and pressure (low versus high). Existing evidence shows that left temporal to frontal connectivity is related to dispositional conscious processing and is sensitive to the amount of declarative knowledge acquired during learning. We found that T7-Fz ISPC, but not T8-Fz ISPC, was lower in experts than novices, and lower when putts were holed than missed. Accordingly, our findings provide additional evidence that communication between verbal/language and motor areas of the brain during preparation for action and its execution is associated with poor motor performance. Our findings validate high-alpha left temporal-frontal connectivity as a neurophysiological correlate of movement specific conscious processing. Key wordsconscious processing; Inter Site Phase Clustering (ISPC); motor control; Reinvestment Theory; temporal-frontal connectivity 3 Classic theories of motor learning (e.g., Fitts & Posner, 1967) suggest that early in the learning process novices control movements deliberately and consciously, whereas following extensive practice they can learn to control movements automatically with reduced conscious awareness (i.e., they can evolve into experts). Thus, learning represents a transition from deliberate and explicit to automatic and implicit control of movement. This notion has been supported by research using electroencephalography (EEG) to assess cortical activity during movement tasks (for reviews see Cooke, 2013;Hatfield et al., 2004;Requin, Brener, & Ring, 1991). For instance, EEG research has indicated that experts display greater cortical efficiency (e.g., Babiloni et al., 2010), while also being more sensitive to errors (e.g., Cooke et al., 2015) when planning and executing movements.Grounded on classic theories of motor learning and control, the Theory of Reinvestment (Masters, 1992;Masters & Maxwell, 2008) proposes that automated motor processes can be disrupted when task-relevant declarative knowledge is used to consciously control movements. Specifically, reinvestment of declarative knowledge de-chunks automatic motor programs into separate components that require conscious control, causing a regression on the skill acquisition continuum to an earlier, more primitive and less effective stage of movement control (MacMahon & Masters, 1999). Importantly, the theory argues that contingencies such as movement errors, or increases in pressure, can create the conditions for reinvestment to occur (Lam, Masters, & Maxwell, 2010).For instance, pressure -defined as "the presence of situational incentive...

This study explored the influence of sub-maximal cardiovascular load on electroencephalographic (EEG) activity preceding biathlon shooting. Frontal-midline theta and alpha power were examined to assess monitoring processes and cortical inhibition, respectively. Thirteen experienced biathletes (mean age: 17years; 5 males, 8 females) fired sets of five consecutive shots from the standing position at a 50-meter-distant target, under two fixed-order conditions: (i) at rest and (ii) immediately after 3-minute exercise on a bicycle ergometer at 90% of maximum heart rate (HR). HR and rate of physical exertion (RPE) were measured as manipulation checks. Shooting accuracy was assessed in target rings for each shot. Frontal-midline theta and alpha power were computed in the last second preceding each shot from average-reference 61-channel EEG and inter-individual differences were minimized through a median-scaled log transformation (Appendix). HR and RPE increased under cardiovascular load, however, shooting accuracy did not change. Pre-shooting frontal-midline theta power decreased, whereas alpha power increased over temporal and occipital - but not central - regions. These changes were larger for greater HR values. Additionally, higher frontal-midline theta, lower left-central alpha, and higher left-temporal alpha power were associated with more accurate shooting. These findings suggest that monitoring processes are beneficial to shooting performance but can be impaired by sub-maximal cardiovascular load. Greater inhibition of movement-irrelevant regions (temporal, occipital) and concomitant activation of movement-related regions (central) indicate that greater neural efficiency is beneficial to shooting performance and can allow trained biathletes to shoot accurately despite physically demanding conditions.

Previous electroencephalographic studies have identified premovement high‐alpha power as a predictor of movement accuracy; less frontal‐central high‐alpha power is associated with accurate movements (e.g., holed golf putts), and could reflect more cognitive resources being allocated to response programming. The present experiment tested this interpretation. Ten expert and ten novice golfers completed 120 putts while high‐alpha power was recorded and analyzed as a function of whether the previous putt was holed (i.e., a correct response) or missed (i.e., an error). Existing evidence indicates that more resources are allocated to response programming following errors. We observed less premovement high‐alpha power following errors, especially in experts. Our findings provide indirect evidence that high‐alpha power is an inverse marker of the amount of resources allocated to motor response programming.

Eye-tracking research has revealed that, compared to novices, experts make longer ocular fixations on the target of an action when performing motor skills; that is, they have a longer quiet eye. Remarkably, the reason why a longer quiet eye aids movement has yet to be established. There is a need for interdisciplinary research and new measures to accelerate progress on the mechanistic understanding of the phenomenon. With the aim to provide researchers with new tools, we assessed the utility of electrooculography (EOG) to examine ocular activity while 10 experts and 10 novices putted golf balls. We measured quiet eye durations, distinguishing its pre-and postmovement initiation components, and developed a novel time-varying index of ocular activity, eye quietness, computed as the variability of the EOG in short time intervals: lower values correspond with greater quietness. Finally, we measured movement durations using a combination of infrared and sound sensors. Experts had longer postmovement initiation quiet eye compared to novices; however, total and premovement quiet eye durations did not differ between groups. Eye quietness was inversely correlated with quiet eye duration, and was greatest immediately after movement initiation. Importantly, movement duration correlated positively with postmovement initiation quiet eye and negatively with eye quietness shortly after movement initiation. This study demonstrates the utility of assessing ocular activity during performance of motor skills using EOG. Additionally, these findings provide evidence that expert-novice differences in ocular activity may reflect differences in the kinematics (e.g., movement duration) of how experts and novices execute motor skills. K E Y W O R D SEOG, eye quietness, golf putting, ocular behavior, quiet eye | IN TRO DUCT IO NThe study of eye movements during performance of motor skills can yield important information to understand how individuals control their actions. In a seminal study, Vickers (1992) used camera-based eye tracking to examine the gaze of 12 experienced golfers-comprising five skilled golfers (mean handicap 6.2) and seven less skilled golfers (mean handicap 14.1) 1

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