Abstract
<title>Abstract</title> <p>In highly dynamic sports such as basketball, rapid decision-making under extreme time pressure is a hallmark of perceptual-cognitive expertise. Although the neural efficiency hypothesis (NEH) provides a framework for experts' superior performance, its spatiotemporal boundaries in complex tactical contexts remain underexplored. This study examined prefrontal hemodynamics during instantaneous basketball decision-making. Thirty-two participants (16 experts, 16 novices) viewed ecologically valid basketball offensive videos and rapidly predicted the ball-carrier's next move while functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) monitored prefrontal hemodynamics across four consecutive task blocks. Behaviorally, experts showed higher decision accuracy and efficiency. Neuroimaging revealed a spatiotemporally specific neural efficiency pattern. Spatially, the expert advantage was localized to lower activation in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC), with no significant group differences in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), suggesting a "resource redirection" strategy that bypasses general cognitive hubs. Experts' VLPFC activation correlated negatively with decision-making efficiency, whereas novices showed a positive correlation, consistent with inefficient cognitive compensation. Temporally, the effect was most pronounced during the mid-task phase (Block 2), after initial cognitive adaptation. These findings extend the NEH by identifying VLPFC-specific spatial pathways and a stage-specific temporal window in basketball decision-making.</p>