Neural mechanisms underlying perceptual-motor behavioral advantages in athletes: a systematic review and activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis

This study aimed to uncover the neural mechanisms through which long-term exercise training influences athletes’ perceptual-motor behavior using an Activation Likelihood Estimation meta-analysis. An extensive literature search identified 14 experiments comprising 336 foci related to perceptual tasks and 16 experiments comprising 556 foci related to motor response tasks. We analyzed brain activation in athletes and novices during perceptual and motor response tasks relative to baseline and conducted direct and inverse contrasts in brain activation between the two groups within these tasks. The findings indicated that athletes exhibit neural efficiency in perceptual and motor response tasks, with fewer brain regions activated compared to novices. Notably, athletes showed greater activation in brain regions associated with sensorimotor processing and higher-order cognitive areas related to attention and memory. These results suggest that athletes extract kinematic information about opponents’ movements through sensorimotor simulation and match it with tactical and technical knowledge stored in long-term memory, thereby supporting superior perceptual-motor performance. In contrast, novices lacking athletic experience rely more on the occipital cortex for visual processing of actions. These findings highlight the differences in brain activity between athletes and novices during perceptual-motor behavior, providing valuable insights into how exercise training shapes brain function.