Enhancing reactive control in table tennis athletes: the impact of monetary and social rewards under acute stress

Table tennis demands that athletes sustain outstanding speed reaction and tactical flexibility in intense competitions, with reactive control playing a pivotal role. Rewards are important incentives. Previous studies have largely focused on monetary rewards enhancing athletes' anticipatory skills while underestimating social rewards' role in reactive control under stress during sports competitions. This investigation seeks to explore and compare the specific effects of monetary and social rewards on enhancing the reactive control of table tennis athletes under acute stress conditions. Twenty-three male table tennis athletes (mean age: 20.435 +/- 1.903 years) underwent the Maastricht Acute Stress Test (MAST) to induce stress, followed by an AX-Continuous Performance Test (AX-CPT) with monetary and social rewards. Reaction time, accuracy, and the amplitudes of N2, P3a, and feedback-related reward P3 (fb-P3) were quantified. Under acute stress, both monetary and social rewards significantly reduced the athletes' response times to stimuli and elicited higher P3a and fb-P3 amplitudes, as well as lower N2 amplitudes, in comparison to the no-reward condition. Furthermore, social rewards resulted in higher N2 amplitudes in the AY trials than monetary rewards. Both monetary and social rewards bolster athletes' reactive control under acute stress by optimising cognitive resource allocation and demonstrating comparable neurophysiological mechanisms. In particular, social rewards show a distinct advantage in enhancing athletes' reactive control over monetary rewards, evidenced by heightening sensitivity to cognitive conflicts during response inhibition processes, reflecting a stronger linkage to sport-related motivational factors.