figure 8.6 Expertise, language, and brain activation Researchers asked three types of people—expert hockey players, knowledgeable hockey fans, and novices unfamiliar with the game—to read sentences about actions occurring in a hockey game. Before and during reading, the researchers measured brain activity in the dorsal premotor cortex of the left hemisphere, an area of the brain involved in controlling bodily movements. Although all participants were reading the same material, their patterns of brain activation differed. Unlike novices, expert players and fans showed higher activation in the part of the brain that usually is used to control motor movements.