Title
The mind of expert motor performance is cool and focused.
Abstract
Extraordinary motor skills required for expert athletic or music performance require longstanding and intensive practice leading to two critical skills, a level of maximal performance that far exceeds that of non-experts and a degree of privileged focus on motor performance that excludes intrusions. This study of motor planning in expert golfers demonstrated their brain activation during their pre-shot routine to be radically different than in novices. The posterior cingulate, the amygdala–forebrain complex, and the basal ganglia were active only in novices, whereas experts had activation primarily in the superior parietal lobule, the dorsal lateral premotor area, and the occipital area. The fact that these differences are apparent before the golfer swings the club suggests that the disparity between the quality of the performance of novice and expert golfers lies at the level of the organization of neural networks during motor planning. In particular, we suggest that extensive practice over a long period of time leads experts to develop a focused and efficient organization of task-related neural networks, whereas novices have difficulty filtering out irrelevant information.
Year
DOI
Venue
2007
10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.01.003
NeuroImage
Keywords
Field
DocType
Motor planning,fMRI,Limbic,Motor learning,Golf
Developmental psychology,Dorsum,Motor learning,Motor skill,Motor planning,Brain activation,Cognitive psychology,Psychology,Posterior cingulate,Artificial neural network,Superior parietal lobule
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
35
2
1053-8119
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
16
1.67
1
Authors
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
John Milton1161.67
Ana Solodkin2314.52
Petr Hlustík3232.42
Steven L. Small415822.15