Publication:

運動訓練經驗對於鏡像神經元系統之調控—探討情緒辨識與運動競賽中預期能力的關聯性

動作預期對開放式運動技能，如技擊運動，的成功表現有著關鍵性的影響。然而，在許多的影響動作預期的因素中，臉部情緒是否也提供了動作預期的相關線索目前仍未知。動作觀察網路(AON)被提出為動作預期的神經機制之一，其也曾被提出與社交網路(SN)有部分的重疊。因此，本研究假設跆拳道運動員的動作預期與情緒再認能力應有所關連。本實驗採用三個作業，包括跆拳動作預期，臉部表情情緒再認與圖片按鍵控制作業，觀察跆拳運動員與一般參與者間的行為與腦部活化差異。結果發現跆拳運動員在預測跆拳動作圖片的反應時間較一般參與者短，但對於情緒圖片預測的反應時間則與一般參與者無異。然而，跆拳運動員相較於一般參與者，無論是在跆拳動作預期或是臉部表情情緒再認的作業中，其前運動皮質區皆有較高的活化程度。本研究建議，前運動皮質對於動作預期與情緒辨識皆有重要的貢獻，而跆拳訓練可增強其作用，所以跆拳訓練對於動作預期與情緒辨識有著潛在的雙向促進效益。

Action anticipation plays an important role in the successful performance of open skill sports, such as combat sports. However, less is known about if facial emotions have an influence on athletes’ action anticipation skill in combat sports. The action observation network (AON) has been proposed as one of the neural mechanisms underpinning action anticipation. The existence of a close relationship between action anticipation and emotion recognition in taekwondo athletes was hypothesised. Three tasks, including action anticipation of taekwondo movements, the emotion recognition of facial expressions, as well as key pressing of scrambled pictures for movement control were used to investigate the differences in performance between taekwondo athletes and non-athletes. The pictures of the emotional facial expressions were taken from the Taiwanese Facial Expression Image Database (TFEID) (Chen and Yen, 2007). During fMRI scanning, the participants were asked to decide, as soon and as accurately as possible, whether the consequence of the action would be a front kick or a roundhouse kick for the taekwondo set or a happy or a fearful emotion for the facial expression set. The taekwondo athletes had significantly shorter reaction time than the non-athletic participants only for the taekwondo pictures, but not for the emotion pictures. The premotor cortex (BA6) was found yielding higher activity in the taekwondo athletes compared to the non-athletes for both action anticipation and emotion recognition. The premotor cortex, one of the core regions of the perception-action system, has been repeatedly shown to be activated during action imagery, imitation and anticipation. Premotor activations have also been found yielding greater activations during emotion imitation than observation of emotion. In the present study, higher premotor activity was found in the taekwondo athletes than in the non-athletes for both emotion recognition and action anticipation may imply that the premotor cortex is crucial for both action and emotion understanding and its participation can be enhanced during taekwondo training. Hence, there could be a mutually beneficial effect between action anticipation and emotion recognition in taekwondo athletes.