Research articleThe effect of badminton training on the ability of same-domain action anticipation for adult novices: Evidence from behavior and ERPs

•We explored the causal effect of sports training on action anticipation ability.•Adult novices sorted as the training group received badminton training for 12 weeks.•Behavior and neural responses were recorded at pre and post training tests.•Training improved action anticipation ability of adult novices.•Training enlarged N2 and P3 of ERPs elicited by action anticipation task.

Many transverse studies have found that athletes can better anticipate the outcome of sequential actions belonging to their domain of motor expertise than non-athletes. However, few studies have causally investigated this issue. Using badminton training as an example, the present study attempted to explore whether sports training affected the same-domain action anticipation ability of adult novices and the related neural mechanisms. To address this issue, participants in the training group attended a 12-week badminton training course (1 h/time, 3 times/week). Both the training and control groups were asked to view badminton video clips and predict the landing position of a shuttle before and after 12 weeks. Compared to the control group, the training group showed a decrease in the inverse efficiency score, indicating that badminton training did improve trainees' action anticipation ability. Furthermore, the training group produced larger N2 and P3 components of event-related potential after the training. These findings suggest that sport training may affect inhibitory processes and memory encoding during same-domain action anticipation.