Table 1.

Characteristics of the included studies.

Study	Subjects	Task	Behavioral performance	EEG measures	Difference between athletes and controls
Haufler et al. (2000),14	Athletes:	Shooting task: 40 shootings. Comparative task: 15 trials of dot localization and word finding.	Experts indicated better shooting performance than novices. No significant difference was found in verbal and spatial tasks.	Theta Alpha Beta Gamma	Athletes showed lower cortical activation in shooting task than verbal and spatial tasks. Non-athletes indicated similar cortical activation in both tasks.
	N = 15
	Age = 26.5
	Controls:
	N = 21
	Age = 23.1
Janelle et al. (2000),15	Athletes:	Participants performed 40 shots in standing position.	Athletes indicated significantly better shooting performance than novices.	Alpha Beta	Athletes were characterized by increased hemispheric asymmetry in shooting.
	N = 12
	Age = 26.4
	Controls:
	N = 13
	Age = 24.6
Del Percio et al. (2007),26	Athletes:	Participants stood on a force platform with eyes closed and open.	No significant difference was identified between groups during standing.	Alpha	Athletes indicated stronger alpha ERD than non-athletes during postural control.
	N = 37
	Age: 19-32
	Controls:
	N = 10
	Age: 21-34
Baumeister et al. (2008),19	Athletes:	Participants performed 5 blocks of golf putting. Each block lasted 4 min.	Golfers performed with significantly higher accuracy than novices.	Theta Alpha	Golfers indicated higher theta and alpha powers than novices in golf putting.
	N = 9
	Age = 26.4
	Controls:
	N = 9
	Age = 24.6
Doppelmayr et al. (2008),16	Athletes:	Participants completed 50–70 shots in 60 min.	Experts indicated significantly better performance than novices.	Theta	Experts indicated a stronger theta activity than novices in preparation of shooting.
	N = 8
	Age = 21.4
	Controls:
	N = 10
	Age = 20.8
Babiloni et al. (2009),37	Athletes:	Participants judged rhythmic gymnastic performance presented in videos.	Rhythmic gymnasts indicated higher judgment accuracy than non-athletes.	Alpha	Rhythmic gymnasts indicated lower alpha ERD than non-athletes in judgment.
	N = 15
	Age = 21.4
	Controls:
	N = 13
	Age = 20.8
Del Percio et al. (2009a),17	Athletes:	Participants completed a total of 120 shots.	Elite athletes performed with significantly higher accuracy than novices.	Alpha	Elite athletes indicated lower alpha ERD than non-athletes over the whole scalp.
	N = 8
	Age = 29.2
	Controls:
	N = 10
	Age = 33.1
Del Percio et al. (2009b),27	Athletes:	Participants stood on a force platform with one foot and both feet.	No significant difference was identified between groups during standing.	Alpha	Athletes indicated lower alpha ERD than non-athletes during postural control.
	N = 20
	Age: 19-32
	Controls:
	N = 12
	Age: 21-34
Babiloni et al. (2010),22	Athletes:	Participants judged the expertise level of karate players according to the performance presented in videos.	Karate players indicated higher judgment accuracy than non-athletes.	Alpha	Karate players performed the task with lower alpha ERD than non-athletes.
	N = 17
	Age = 23.8
	Controls:
	N = 17
	Age = 24.6
Del Percio et al. (2010),25	Athletes:	Participants performed repeat wrist extension as fast as possible in 10 s.	Not reported	Alpha	Athletes indicated lower alpha ERD than non-athletes during postural control.
	N = 17
	Age = 23.8
	Controls:
	N = 17
	Age = 24.6
Cooke et al. (2014),20	Athletes:	Participants completed 2 blocks of 60 putts.	No significant difference was found between the two groups.	Theta Alpha Beta	Golfers indicated greater reduction in theta, alpha, and beta powers than novices in golf putting.
	N = 10
	Age = 20.9
	Controls:
	N = 10
	Age = 19.0
Wolf et al. (2014),24	Athletes:	Participants watched videos of a table tennis serve and imagined themselves responding with a specific stroke.	Not reported	Alpha	Alpha (8–10 Hz) ERD is stronger in elite table tennis players compared to amateurs at the<!--Soft-enter Run-on-- > motor cortex.
	N = 14
	Age = 20.9
	Amateurs:
	N = 15
	Age =
	Controls:
	N = 15
	Age = 19.0
Cooke et al. (2015),21	Athletes:	Participants completed 120 golf putts.	Not reported	Alpha	Golfers indicated greater reduction in high alpha power after a missed putt than novices.
	N = 10
	Age = 20.9
	Controls:
	N = 10
	Age = 19.0
Wang et al. (2015),28	Athletes:	Participants conducted two cognitive tasks involving working memory and attention.	Badminton players showed similar response accuracy to non-athletes, but significantly faster response than non-athletes.	Theta Alpha Beta	Athletes showed significant increase in theta power and decrease in beta power, which contributed to enhanced working memory and attentional performance, respectively.
	N = 12
	Age = 20.6
	Controls:
	N = 13
	Age = 19.1
Duru and Assem. (2018),29	Athletes:	Participants performed 2 blocks of arithmetical tasks.	No significant difference was found between the groups.	Delta Theta Alpha Beta	Karate players indicated higher posterior alpha power than non-athletes.
	N = 10
	Age = 22.9
	Controls:
	N = 10
	Age = 22.9
Del Percio et al. (2019),23	Athletes:	Participants assessed the distance between football players presented in a video.	No significant difference was found between the groups.	Alpha	Football players indicated greater bilateral parietal alpha ERD than non-athletes during the cognitive task.
	N = 13
	Age = 25.1
	Controls:
	N = 8
	Age = 25.6