The influence of expertise on brain activation of the action observation network during anticipation of tennis and volleyball serves.

ABSTRACT: In many daily activities, and especially in sport, it is necessary to predict the effects of others' actions in order to initiate appropriate responses. Recently, researchers have suggested that the action-observation network (AON) including the cerebellum plays an essential role during such anticipation, particularly in sport expert performers. In the present study, we examined the influence of task-specific expertise on the AON by investigating differences between two expert groups trained in different sports while anticipating action effects. Altogether, 15 tennis and 16 volleyball experts anticipated the direction of observed tennis and volleyball serves while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The expert group in each sport acted as novice controls in the other s

SUBMITTER: Balser N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4117995 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature