Dynamic alterations in cortical activation during motor adaptation in table tennis using whole‑brain fNIRS

Human movements must constantly be adapted due to changing internal and external conditions in our environment. The underlying neuronal mechanisms that are responsible for motor adaptations have so far mainly been investigated in highly controlled laboratory scenarios using simple motor tasks. However, because motor adaptations in daily life and sports entail more complex processes involving several cognitive components and strategic adjustments, results from such highly controlled settings only allow restricted conclusions and do not capture neuronal processing in everyday life scenarios. Hence, we studied 56 participants using a table tennis paradigm to unravel cortical activation during motor adaptation in a sport-specific setting using functional NIRS. Furthermore, we wanted to investigate whether cortical activation during motor adaptation is influenced by the temporal order of perturbations (serial vs. randomized practice). Our findings revealed brain areas such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and primary sensory cortex, left supplementary motor cortex and left primary motor cortex, as well as right superior parietal cortex and right inferior parietal cortex, exhibited dynamic alterations in their activation as motor adaptation progressed. Specifically, hemodynamic response alterations generally increased during early adaptation and decreased as motor adaptation progressed. On the other hand, no differential changes in cortical brain processing were observed with serial and randomized practice. Based on our findings, we can confirm and extent theoretical models and laboratory evidence of motor adaptation using a sport-specific motor task.