Specific Involvement of the Motor Control System in Unconscious Perceptual Processing of Table Tennis Athletes: A Task-Based fMRI Study

Objective: To elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying unconscious perceptual processing in table tennis athletes by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and to explore how long-term open-skill training shapes the perception−action coupling process. Methods: A cross-sectional design was adopted in this study, 24 national-level table tennis athletes and 23 control participants without specialized sports training were conducted behavioral testing and fMRI experiments based on an unconscious masked priming paradigm. Results: 1) The discrimination index showed that neither group of participants formed subjective awareness of the subliminal priming stimuli, indicating that the unconscious condition was established effectively. 2) Behavioral results indicated that the reaction time of the athletes were significantly shorter than those of the control group under all conditions (P＜0.01) with lower error rates. Moreover, the incongruent priming effect was significantly higher in the athletes compared to the control group (P＜0.05). 3) Overall brain activation results showed that both of the two groups’ participants activated the primary visual network, secondary visual network, and somatosensory-motor network during unconscious perceptual processing, accompanied by the suppression of the default mode network (P＜0.001). 4) Intergroup brain region differences indicated that under the category-congruent condition, the activation of the left superior frontal gyrus (area 2) in the athlete group was significantly lower than that of the control group, while the activation of the right cuneus gyrus was significantly higher than the control group (P＜0.001). Under the incongruent condition, the activation of the right occipital gyrus in the athlete group was significantly higher than in the control group (P＜0.001). 5) Priming effect analysis indicated that under the incongruent priming effect, the left cerebellar vermis area 1, middle temporal gyrus, precuneus, right cerebellum area 8 and substantia nigra reticulata were significantly activated (P＜0.001); under the category-congruent priming effect, the left substantia nigra reticulata and the right supplementary motor area in the athlete group were significantly activated (P＜0.001). In contrast, the control group showed significant activation in the left inferior parietal lobule only under the incongruent priming effect (P＜0.001). 6) Comparison of priming effects indicated that under the incongruent priming effect, the athlete group showed significantly higher activation in the left parahippocampal gyrus, right upper anterior cingulate cortex, medial orbitofrontal gyrus, and fusiform gyrus compared to the control group (P＜0.001); under the category-congruent priming effect, the activation of the left middle temporal gyrus in the athlete group was significantly lower than in the control group (P＜0.001). Conclusion: fMRI evidence revealed the specific involvement of motor-control-related brain regions in the unconscious perceptual processing in table tennis athletes. Long-term open-skill training may enhance perception−action coupling and optimize neural network efficiency, enabling faster and more accurate responses under unconscious conditions.