Utilization of cues in action anticipation in table tennis players

Abstract

By manipulating the congruency between body kinematics and subsequent ball trajectory, this study investigated the anticipation capabilities of regional-level, college-level, and novice table tennis players using a full video simulation occluder paradigm. Participants watched footage containing congruent, incongruent, or no ball trajectory information, to predict the landing point of the ball. They were required to choose between two potential locations to make their prediction. Percent accuracy and relevant indexes (d-prime, criterion, effect size) were calculated for each condition. Results indicated that experienced table tennis players (both regional and college players) were superior to novices in the ability to anticipate ball trajectory using kinematic information, but no difference was found between regional-level and college-level players. The findings of this study further demonstrate the superior anticipation ability of experienced table tennis players. Furthermore, the present result suggests that there may be a certain "baseline" level of motor experience in racquet sports for effective action anticipation, while the addition of further motor experience does not appear to assist direction anticipation.

Influence of cognitive‐motor expertise on brain dynamics of anticipatory‐based outcome processing

“…In the case of skilled cognitive‐motor performance, predictive theories of action observation suggest that one predicts an opponent’s actions through the processing of kinematic cues and the generation of a context‐based representation of the movement. According to this view, experienced individuals excel in the anticipation of actions that are present in their own motor repertoire (Calvo‐Merino, Glaser, Grèzes, Passingham, & Haggard, ; Cross, Hamilton, & Grafton, ; Wang et al, ; Zhao, Lu, Jaquess, & Zhou, ), and an established body of research provides robust empirical support that experienced individuals are, in fact, superior to novices in the processing of an opponent’s kinematic information and the prediction of action outcomes (Savelsbergh, Williams, Kamp, & Ward, ; Williams, Ford, Eccles, & Ward, ). This capacity, in turn, may contribute to the preservation of reactive capacity to external stimuli such as ball trajectory in the face of strategic uncertainty or the faking of movements as employed by the opponent to confuse or misdirect the performer (Hung, Spalding, Santa Maria, & Hatfield, ).…”

The effects of sport expertise and shot results on basketball players’ action anticipation

“…In addition, other studies concerning anticipation in tennis or table tennis revealed that elite athletes were able to utilize early valid information to facilitate their prediction of the ball direction [5,6]. Zhao and Lu [5] found that when observing a video of table tennis serves with early kinematic cues and early flight cues, the regional-level group had higher prediction accuracy than the college-level and novice groups. To the best of our knowledge, a tennis server usually determines the ball's direction before he or she serves.…”

A comparative biomechanical analysis of the performance level on chasse step in table tennis

“…Previous studies have corroborated that experienced racquet-sport players have a better anticipation ability that can predict the outcomes of the movements of their opponents and even the ball trajectory. 32–35 Based on this finding, it can be speculated that PA possessed a better ability of flexible motions than BP which would be beneficial for themselves to improve the quality of stroke. Additionally, compared with BP at the event of FE, PA showed larger rear-foot internal rotation and forefoot abduction.…”