Kuo-Ping Wang, a PhD student currently working with the Neurocognition and Action Group at Bielefeld University, is researching on questions related to attention, conscious control and performance, both in experts as well as during learning.
It was a pleasure to co-author one of his works looking at the timeline of attentional processes during superior performance, published just recently (Wang et al., 2021). His work nicely adds to the longstanding debate on whether conscious thought harms automated action:
The EEG data showed that the skilled golfers’ attentional processes in the NC initially resembled those in the EC and then moved toward those in the IC just before putting. This indicates a switch from more automatic processes to cognitive control processes while preparing to putt. The findings offer support for the meshed control theory and indicate the dynamic nature of neuromotor processes for the superior performance of athletes in challenging situations.