Task-specific and variability-driven activation of cognitive control processes during motor performance

Abstract

It has long been postulated that cognitive and motor functions are functionally intertwined. While the idea received convincing support from neuroimaging studies providing evidence that motor and cognitive processes draw on common neural mechanisms and resources, findings from behavioral studies are rather inconsistent. The purpose of the present study was to identify and verify key factors that act on the link between cognitive and motor functions. Specifically we investigated whether it is possible to predict motor skills from cognitive functions. While our results support the idea that motor and cognitive functions are functionally intertwined and different motor skills entail distinct cognitive functions, our data also strongly suggest that the impact of cognitive control processes on motor skill proficiency depends on performance variability, i.e. on how challenging a motor task is. Based on these findings, we presume that motor skills activate specific cognitive control processes on two levels: basic processes that are solely related to the type of the motor task, and variability-driven processes that come into play when performance variability is high. For practitioners, these findings call for specific and challenging motor training interventions to directly tap into the to-be-improved cognitive skills and to involve a maximum of cognitive processes.

Figure 1

Standardized regression coefficients for the relation between specific cognitive control processes, (A) response inhibition, (B) set shifting, (C) response shifting), and balance control as mediated by performance variability (PV) during one-leg balance. Reported are the standardized regression coefficients along with Benjamini-Hochberg adjusted p-values, ***p < 0.001, **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05, ^§p < 0.10, N = 46.