The modulation of event-related alpha rhythm during the time course of anticipation

Abstract

Anticipation is the ability to accurately predict future actions or events ahead of the act itself. When attempting to anticipate, researchers have identified that at least two broad sources of information are used: contextual information relating to the situation in question; and biological motion from postural cues. However, the neural correlates associated with the processing of these different sources of information across groups varying in expertise has yet to be examined empirically. We compared anticipation performance and electrophysiological activity in groups of expert (n = 12) and novice (n = 15) performers using a video-based task. Participants made anticipation judgements after being presented information under three conditions: contextual information only; kinematic information only; and both sources of information combined. The experts responded more accurately across all three conditions. Stronger alpha event-related desynchronization over occipital and frontocentral sites occurred in experts compared to the novices when anticipating. The experts relied on stronger preparatory attentional mechanisms when they processed contextual information. When kinematic information was available, the domain specific motor representations built up over many years of practice likely underpinned expertise. Our findings have implications for those interested in identifying and subsequently, enhancing the neural mechanisms involved in anticipation.

An active inference account of skilled anticipation in sport

“…Figure 3 Panels B and C illustrate this effect for two single-trial simulations where beliefs about the more likely hidden state (normal or change-up) are updated across timepoints within a single trial according to the precision of each informational source, resulting in different action selections. These simulations correspond closely with many empirical findings in the sport anticipation literature 32,37,41,42 . For instance, Runswick et al 40 , found participants relied heavily on game context information when the delivery of a cricket ball was occluded at an early stage, but increasingly employed kinematic cues for later occlusions, as the precision of the kinematic cues (e.g., bowler's action) increased (see also 41 ). )…”

The use of contextual priors and kinematic information during anticipation in sport: toward a Bayesian integration framework

“…Gredin et al (2020b) combined continuous electroencephalography (EEG) and selfreport measures to assess the cognitive load associated with soccer players' processing of contextual priors during the anticipation task. The EEG data suggested that explicitly provided contextual priors increased experts' cognitive load, perhaps due to the recruitment of additional attentional resources (Simonet et al, 2019). In contrast, the retrospective self-report data indicated a decrease in cognitive load when priors were provided.…”

A Bayesian computational model to investigate expert anticipation of a seemingly unpredictable ball bounce

“…This is an important consideration for the sports anticipation literature that has investigated contextual priors and their importance in the anticipation process (Runswick, Roca, et al, 2020). The majority of this work has explicitly provided contextual priors or deliberately developed tasks that are embedded with reliable contextual information (Simonet et al, 2019), potentially up-weighting their importance in the anticipation process.…”