Adaptation of brain functional stream architecture in athletes with fast demands of sensorimotor integration

Abstract

Training‐induced neuroplasticity has been described in athletes' population. However, it remains largely unknown how regular training and sports proficiency modifies neuronal circuits in the human brain. In this study, we used voxel‐based morphometry and stepwise functional connectivity (SFC) analyses to uncover connectivity changes in the functional stream architecture in student‐athletes at early stages of sensorimotor skill training. Thirty‐two second‐year student‐athletes whose major was little‐ball sports and thirty‐four nonathlete controls were recruited for the study. We found that athletes showed greater gray matter volume in the right sensorimotor area, the limbic lobe, and the anterior lobe of the cerebellum. Furthermore, SFC analysis demonstrated that athletes displayed significantly smaller optimal connectivity distance from those seed regions to the dorsal attention network (DAN) and larger optimal connectivity distance to the default mode network (DMN) compared to controls. The Attention Network Test showed that the reaction time of the orienting attention subnetwork was positively correlated with SFC between the seeds and the DAN, while negatively correlated with SFC between the seeds and the DMN. Our findings suggest that neuroplastic adaptations on functional connectivity streams after motor skill training may enable novel information flow from specific areas of the cortex toward distributed networks such as the DAN and the DMN. This could potentially regulate the focus of external and internal attention synchronously in athletes, and consequently accelerate the reaction time of orienting attention in athletes.

Altered Brain Functional Connectivity Density in Fast-Ball Sports Athletes With Early Stage of Motor Training

“…In addition, similar results are found in elite karate players, suggesting brain areas associated with movement planning and visual perception having increased connectivity (Duru and Balcioglu, 2018). Our recent study using seed-based stepwise FC showed that fast-ball athletes were reported with a significantly smaller optimal connectivity distance from seed regions to the dorsal attention network (DAN) and larger optimal connectivity distance to the default mode network (DMN; Gao et al, 2019). Given the evidences above, changes in resting-state-FC brain plasticity occur in different brain areas across various sport events.…”

“…However, it is largely unknown how brain functions change in the process of motor training (Lappi, 2015). Some researchers attempted to investigate the difference in brain activity between athletes and non-athlete controls (NC) during certain tasks (Gao et al, 2019), with different regions of task-induced activation between the two groups that are being reported. For instance, in the visual smooth pursuit task, football players showed greater activation in the oculomotor region of the cerebellar vermis and areas of the frontal eye fields than NC, suggesting visual motor skill is required for elite football players to successfully execute complex movement during games (Kellar et al, 2018).…”

“…The brain of skilled elite athletes who have improved sport performance reveals neuroplastic adaptations caused by motor skill training ( Gao et al, 2019 ; Chen et al, 2020 ; Jung et al, 2020 ). It has attracted special attention from researchers exploring how and where the structural and functional plasticity of the brain occurs in the course of motor skill training using imaging techniques [e.g., functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRs)] ( Crawford et al, 2019 ; Yu et al, 2020 ; Yue et al, 2020a , b ).…”

“…It has attracted special attention from researchers exploring how and where the structural and functional plasticity of the brain occurs in the course of motor skill training using imaging techniques [e.g., functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRs)] ( Crawford et al, 2019 ; Yu et al, 2020 ; Yue et al, 2020a , b ). In particular, fMRI is widely accepted as an effective method to help researchers to understand the physiological mechanisms of brain plasticity via motor training; furthermore, findings might be practically meaningful for improving athletic performance ( Gao et al, 2019 ; Zhang et al, 2019 ). However, it is largely unknown how brain functions change in the process of motor training ( Lappi, 2015 ).…”

Alterations Functional Connectivity in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy and Their Relationships With Cognitive Function: A Longitudinal Resting-State fMRI Study

“…Attentional function includes three basic components: alertness, orientation and executive control. Alertness, orientation, and executive function were defined quantitatively by the following formula: mean RT no−cue –mean RT double−cue , mean RT center−cue –mean RT spatial−cue , RT incongruent –RT congruent ( 24 ).…”