As the shot is learnt, it comes under less cortical control
4 studies · 118 archers measured
The summary today
Three Korean MRI studies, between 2008 and 2014, compare archers and beginners as they simulate or imagine aiming, and all three find a more active brain in the beginners, mainly in the frontal areas: in the eight experts of 2008 the visual areas work and in the eight beginners the frontal ones, in the eighteen elite archers of 2010 almost only the supplementary motor area stays active while in those who have never competed a wide network lights up. The third study splits, though: between elite women archers with Olympic and world medals and university archers who had been shooting for twelve years, it is the elite women who activate the supplementary motor area and middle frontal cortex more. The only measurement that follows the same people as they learn dates from 2025: twenty-six freshmen on a seven-week course, with electroencephalography and electromyography while shooting thirty arrows at ten metres, show less flow of information from the prefrontal and central cortex to the muscles by the end, and a link with the score that flips (correlations from 0.09 to 0.27 before, from -0.10 to -0.36 after). The limits are the same throughout: comparisons made at a single moment, on small groups and on a simulated or imagined movement without a bow, and a before-and-after with no control group. Not even the authors always read the result the way the claim does: in 2025 they put the drop down to more inhibitory control from above, and in 2014 the elite use more cortex, not less. The direction holds for the first step, from not knowing the movement to being able to do it; among trained archers the only comparison points the opposite way, and for those who lose the movement there is nothing yet.
Also phrased as: "automating the shot"; "the shot running on its own"; "taking the head out of the shot"; "conscious and automatic control"; "motor learning in archery"
In practice
It is said that at first archers think about every step of the shot and that over the years the movement runs on its own, and that the work of training is precisely to take the head out of the shot.
Evidence
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2008
For Archers Published later
8 world-class expert archers and 8 beginners who had been shooting for a month simulate aiming inside an MRI scanner, pressing a button when they feel ready to release: in the experts mainly occipital and temporal visual areas are active, in the beginners the superior, inferior and medial frontal areas dominate, and the posterior cingulate and cerebellar tonsil appear only in them. Statistical threshold not corrected for multiple comparisons (p < 0.01), groups that also differ in age and sex, and no bow in hand.
Neural correlates of pre-performance routines in expert and novice archers · Jingu Kim, Hyoung Mo Lee, Woo Jong Kim, Hye Ju Park, Sung Woon Kim, Doo Hwan Moon, Minjung Woo, Leo Keith Tennant
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2010
For Archers Published later
18 elite Korean archers and 18 people who had never competed imagine the shot inside an MRI scanner: in the non-archers a wide network lights up, primary motor cortex, premotor, supplementary motor area, inferior parietal, inferior frontal, basal ganglia and cerebellum, in the archers almost only the supplementary motor area, and no area is more active in the archers (FDR p < 0.05). The reported difficulty of the imagery is the same, 2.37 against 2.45 out of 7. The comparison is with people who have never made the movement, and the difference also involves the basal ganglia and cerebellum, not only the cortex.
Neural correlates of motor imagery for elite archers · Yongmin Chang, Jae-Jun Lee, Jee-Hye Seo, Hui-Jin Song, Yang-Tae Kim, Hui Joong Lee, Hye Jung Kim, Jongmin Lee, Woojong Kim, Minjung Woo, Jin Gu Kim
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2014
For Archers Published later
12 elite women archers with medals from the Olympics, Asian Games and World Championships, 14 university archers and 14 people who had never shot imagine the shot in front of a simulated target at 70 metres, in an MRI scanner, up to the moment of release: those who have never shot activate the superior and inferior frontal areas, the ventral prefrontal cortex, the posterior cingulate, the basal ganglia and the cerebellum more than the archers (p < 0.005 corrected). The authors conclude that the archers' more circumscribed activity is more efficient.
An fMRI Study of Differences in Brain Activity Among Elite, Expert, and Novice Archers at the Moment of Optimal Aiming · Woojong Kim, Yongmin Chang, Jingu Kim, Jeehye Seo, Kwangmin Ryu, Eunkyung Lee, Minjung Woo, Christopher M. Janelle
-
2014
Against Archers Published later
Between the two groups of archers the difference runs the other way: the elite women, 342 out of 360, activate the right supplementary motor area, middle frontal gyrus and cerebellum more than the university archers, 320, while the university archers activate the right temporoparietal and primary somatosensory areas more; the authors acknowledge that this goes against the idea of efficiency. The university archers had been shooting for almost twelve years: the comparison between those who have known the movement for years and those who have known it longer says more cortex, not less. The elite group is all women and older, but the result does not change after allowing for age and sex.
An fMRI Study of Differences in Brain Activity Among Elite, Expert, and Novice Archers at the Moment of Optimal Aiming · Woojong Kim, Yongmin Chang, Jingu Kim, Jeehye Seo, Kwangmin Ryu, Eunkyung Lee, Minjung Woo, Christopher M. Janelle
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2014
Context Archers Published later
In the 26 archers the change in cerebellar signal during aiming rises with the best score (r = 0.544, p = 0.006), which is a national competition score for the elite women and a training score for the university archers: with two groups so far apart the correlation may reflect the difference between groups. The authors read it as the cerebellum automating the movement with experience.
An fMRI Study of Differences in Brain Activity Among Elite, Expert, and Novice Archers at the Moment of Optimal Aiming · Woojong Kim, Yongmin Chang, Jingu Kim, Jeehye Seo, Kwangmin Ryu, Eunkyung Lee, Minjung Woo, Christopher M. Janelle
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2025
For Archers Published later
26 university freshmen (7 women, 19 men, aged 18.7) before and after a seven-week course, one session of at least 100 minutes a week, recurve bow at 10 metres: transfer entropy from EEG to EMG is lower after the course in the prefrontal and central regions (p < 0.05), with small to medium effects per channel, and does not change in the other regions. No control group.
Corticomuscular Coupling Analysis in Archery Based on Transfer Entropy · Yunrui Zhang, Yue Leng, Xiaozhi Li, Wenjing Zhang, Hairong Yu
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2025
Context Archers Published later
In the same 26 beginners the Spearman correlation between brain-to-muscle flow and score runs from 0.09 to 0.27 before the course, significant only for some muscles, and from -0.10 to -0.36 afterwards, significant for five muscles out of six. The authors read it as a reduced need for cortical involvement once posture has stabilised; in the table, coefficients and p values do not always agree with each other.
Corticomuscular Coupling Analysis in Archery Based on Transfer Entropy · Yunrui Zhang, Yue Leng, Xiaozhi Li, Wenjing Zhang, Hairong Yu
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2025
Context Archers Published later
While aiming, the flow from brain to muscles is highest in the alpha band, then beta, then gamma (p < 0.001; Cohen's d 0.91 between alpha and beta, 3.26 between alpha and gamma, 2.74 between beta and gamma). The return signal, from muscles to brain, does not change between regions or after the course (p > 0.05), and across thirty arrows all the coupling indices fall as the session goes on, less so after the course (shown only in a figure, without numerical values). The authors warn that transfer entropy does not reliably give the strength of the link.
Corticomuscular Coupling Analysis in Archery Based on Transfer Entropy · Yunrui Zhang, Yue Leng, Xiaozhi Li, Wenjing Zhang, Hairong Yu
Status history
- 2008 Reported The first comparison comes from functional MRI on eight world-class expert archers and eight beginners who had been shooting for a month, lying down to simulate aiming with a button in place of the release. In the experts it is mainly the visual areas that work, in the beginners the frontal areas dominate, the ones the authors link to control and decision-making. It is the direction of the claim, but it is a comparison between two groups at a single moment, eight people each, with a statistical threshold not corrected for the tens of thousands of points compared: reported.
- 2010 Reported The same Korean group compares eighteen elite archers with eighteen people who had never competed, while they imagine the shot: in the non-archers a wide network lights up, from the motor cortex to the basal ganglia and cerebellum, in the archers almost only the supplementary motor area, and no area is more active in them. Two studies in the same direction, but they are still cross-sectional comparisons, the second on an imagined movement and with people who had never made it, and the network that narrows is not only cortical: reported.
- 2014 Contested The third Korean study puts three levels in the scanner, elite women archers with medals from the Olympics, Asian Games and World Championships, university archers and people who had never shot, at the instant they imagine the release. Those who have never shot activate many frontal areas more than the archers, as in the earlier studies; but between the two groups of archers the difference reverses, because the elite women activate the supplementary motor area and middle frontal cortex more than the university archers, and the authors acknowledge that this goes against the idea of efficiency. The same study therefore sits on both sides: between those who cannot shoot and those who can, less cortex; between those who have shot for twelve years and those who went on to win international medals, more. For the first time a result on archers runs against the claim: between those who cannot shoot and those who can the direction holds, but learning to shoot carries on after the first years, and there the data point the opposite way. Three studies for and one against: contested.
- 2025 Contested Twenty-six university beginners followed through a seven-week course, with 32-channel electroencephalography, electromyography on six muscles and thirty arrows per session, provide the first measurement taken by following the same people as they learn, rather than by comparing different groups. During the shot the flow of information from brain to muscles runs mainly through the alpha band and then the beta band; after the course the flow leaving the prefrontal and central areas decreases, while the return signal from the muscles does not change; and the link between this flow and the score flips from positive to negative. It is a before-and-after with no control group, on beginners and over just seven sessions, and the authors read the drop as more inhibitory control from above, not as a cortex stepping aside: it is a fourth supporting study, but on the first step of learning, and it leaves the 2014 contrary result among trained archers untouched: the status stays contested.
Related
Related articles
- Where to put your attention: internal and external focus in archeryThink about the muscles or the sight? General research favoured an external focus, but in archers the score did not change. What changed was the brain's work.
- Why target panic happens (and why calling it mental is not enough)My hypothesis on target panic: under pressure the release de-automatizes, dropping back to conscious control too slow to run it. With what the studies say.
- EEG and neuroscience in archery: the brain of the elite archerWhat EEG studies on archers show about the best arrows, differences between levels, theta in beginners and neurofeedback, and how far each finding holds.
Research lines
Cite
Campagna, M. (2026). As the shot is learnt, it comes under less cortical control (Version 3). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/mind/automaticity-cortical-control
@misc{campagna2026_automatismocontrollocorticale,
author = {Campagna, Matteo},
title = {As the shot is learnt, it comes under less cortical control},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/mind/automaticity-cortical-control},
note = {Version 3; accessed 2026-10-16}
}
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