Preparation for action: Psychophysiological activity preceding a motor skill as a function of expertise, performance outcome, and psychological pressure

Cooke, Andrew; Kavussanu, Maria; Gallicchio, Germano; Willoughby, Adrian R.; McIntyre, David; Ring, Christopher

doi:10.1111/psyp.12182

Cited by 87 publications

(153 citation statements)

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“…This is likely due to additional variability introduced in the magnitude squared coherence estimates by the large variations in power (e.g., alpha desynchronisation) that occur in the pre-movement period (e.g., Babiloni et al, 2008;Cooke et al, 2014). Since ISPC is independent of the magnitude and power of cortical oscillations it is immune from this limitation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Magnitude squared coherence, which has been the 6 connectivity measure of choice in this field to date, is influenced by absolute power and could be confounded by overall power differences between experimental conditions and/or groups (Cohen, 2014). This is noteworthy because recent research has demonstrated substantial within and between-group variations in absolute levels of pre-movement alpha power (Babiloni et al, 2008;Cooke et al, 2014). Accordingly, such variations could have influenced the results of some of the previously described connectivity studies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

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Lower left temporal-frontal connectivity characterizes expert and accurate performance: High-alpha T7-Fz connectivity as a marker of conscious processing during movement.

Gallicchio

Cooke

Ring

2016

Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology

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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...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Lower left temporal-frontal connectivity characterizes expert and accurate performance: High-alpha T7-Fz connectivity as a marker of conscious processing during movement.

Gallicchio

Cooke

Ring

2016

Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology

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“…Alpha power was chosen based on previous findings that voluntary self-paced movements (such as golf putts) are preceded by a reduction (i.e., desynchronisation) in EEG alpha power (Leocani et al 1997). Fz site was relevant because this site was found to capture the strongest differences in high-alpha power between experts and novices and successful and unsuccessful outcomes in the moments preceding golf putts (Cooke et al 2014). The findings showed that neurofeedback training was successful in reducing the golfers' alpha-band activity while no improvements were found in the putting performance.…”

Section: Improvements In Motor Sequence Learning and Motor Skill Learmentioning

confidence: 99%

Noninvasive Brain Stimulation and Neural Entrainment Enhance Athletic Performance—a Review

2016

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Brain stimulation and neural entrainment relying on noninvasive techniques, applied to sports, might enhance brain activity in healthy athletes to improve their physical performance. In the past, several studies have employed stimulation procedures, either during athletic training or during separate sessions, to enhance physical and mental performance. Here, we review the available physiological and behavioral studies to clarify if and under which conditions noninvasive brain stimulation and neural entrainment might enhance athletic performance. Even though many studies suffer from small sample size, the results, compared to traditional training procedures, suggest advantages with regard to motor learning, motion perception, muscular strength, or decrements in muscle fatigue. Further, these techniques seem to be useful in fine-tuning crucial aspects of competitive sports such as speeding up the learning rate of specific motor skills. Although more research is needed to fully understand the effects of noninvasive brain stimulation and neural entrainment on athletic performance, we conclude that these emerging techniques are promising tools to enhance physical and mental performances in sports.

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“…We conducted new analyses on a golf putting data set with known expert-novice and holedmissed differences for several psychophysiological indices (Cooke et al, 2014). Our primary aims were threefold: first, to quantify both pre-and postmovement initiation components of the quiet eye using EOG; second, to develop a novel, time-varying measure of ocular activity in the form of eye quietness.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing ocular activity during performance of motor skills using electrooculography

2018

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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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Preparation for action: Psychophysiological activity preceding a motor skill as a function of expertise, performance outcome, and psychological pressure

Cited by 87 publications

References 70 publications

Lower left temporal-frontal connectivity characterizes expert and accurate performance: High-alpha T7-Fz connectivity as a marker of conscious processing during movement.

Lower left temporal-frontal connectivity characterizes expert and accurate performance: High-alpha T7-Fz connectivity as a marker of conscious processing during movement.

Noninvasive Brain Stimulation and Neural Entrainment Enhance Athletic Performance—a Review

Assessing ocular activity during performance of motor skills using electrooculography

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