Learning to play badminton altered resting-state activity and functional connectivity of the cerebellar sub-regions in adults

The effects of football juggling learning on executive function and brain functional connectivity

This study aimed to explore the relationship between motor skill learning and executive function (EF), with an emphasis on the potential effects of football juggling learning. A randomized controlled trial involving 111 participants aged 17-19 years was conducted. Participants were randomly assigned to either the football juggling learning (FJL) group or a control group. The FJL group underwent 70 sessions of football juggling learning, while the control group engaged in their normal daily activities without any exercise intervention during the same time frame. Both groups were assessed for EF performance and underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans before and after the experiment. The executive function test included three tasks, namely, inhibition, working memory, and shifting. The results showed significant improvement in inhibition and shifting in both groups, and the FJL group showed greater improvement in these aspects of EF compared to the control group. Additionally, in comparison to the control group, the FJL group exhibited increased functional connectivity within the frontal, temporal, and cerebellar regions from the pre-test to the post-test. Notably, enhanced functional connectivity between the right superior temporal gyrus (posterior division) and left cerebellum 6 was identified in the FJL group and was associated with improved EF performance induced by football juggling learning. These findings shed light on the potential causal relationship between motor skill learning, EF, and brain plasticity. Importantly, our study provides preliminary evidence supporting the use of motor skill learning, such as football juggling, as a potential avenue for cognitive enhancement.

Increased Cerebellar Gray Matter Volume in Athletes: A Voxel-Wise Coordinate-Based Meta-Analysis

Purpose: The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis study was to investigate distinct brain structural characteristics in athletes as compared with those in non-athletes by quantifying regional gray matter (GM) volume changes using voxel-based morphometry analysis based on a whole-brain approach. Methods: The systematic literature search was conducted from November 1, 2020 to October 18, 2021 via the two search engines including the PubMed and Web of Science. We included 13 studies that reported GM volume data in 229 athletes as compared 219 non-athletes based on the whole-brain analysis with specific three-dimensional coordinates in a standard stereotactic space. Thus, we performed a coordinate-based meta-analysis using the seed-based d mapping via permutation of subject images methods. Result: The coordinate-based meta-analysis reported that the athletes significantly reveal greater regional GM volume across right cerebellar lobules IV-V and Brodmann area 37 regions than those in the non-athletes with minimal levels of heterogeneity and publication bias between the included studies. The subgroup analyses show that greater GM volume for athletes in closed-skill sports appeared across the right cerebellar hemispheric lobules VIII and the right cingulum than those for non-athletes. Conclusion: These cumulative findings from multiple brain imaging studies suggest potential brain plasticity evidence in the athletes who experienced extensive motor training.

Baseline Cerebro-Cerebellar Functional Connectivity in Afferent and Efferent Pathways Reveal Dissociable Improvements in Visuomotor Learning

Visuomotor coordination is a complex process involving several brain regions, primarily the cerebellum and motor cortex. Studies have shown inconsistent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) results in the cerebellar cortex and dentate nucleus of the cerebro-cerebellar connections. Echoing anatomical pathways, these two different cerebellar regions are differentially responsible for afferent and efferent cerebro-cerebellar functional connections. The aim of this study was to measure the baseline resting-state functional connectivity of different cerebellar afferent and efferent pathways and to investigate their relationship to visuomotor learning abilities. We used different cerebellar repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) frequencies before a pursuit rotor task to influence visuomotor performance. Thirty-eight right-handed participants were included and randomly assigned to three different rTMS frequency groups (1 Hz, 10 Hz and sham) and underwent baseline rsfMRI and pursuit rotor task assessments. We report that greater baseline functional connectivity in the afferent cerebro-cerebellar pathways was associated with greater accuracy improvements. Interestingly, lower baseline functional connectivity in the efferent dentato-thalamo-cortical pathways was associated with greater stability in visuomotor performance, possibly associated with the inhibitory role of the dentate nucleus and caused a reduction in the efferent functional connectivity. The functional dissociation of the cerebellar cortex and dentate nucleus and their connections, suggests that distinct mechanisms in the cerebellum regarding visuomotor learning, which should be investigated in future research.

The structure of the superior and inferior parietal lobes predicts inter-individual suitability for virtual reality

The global virtual reality (VR) market is significantly expanding and being challenged with an increased demand owing to COVID-19. Unfortunately, VR is not useful for everyone due to large interindividual variability existing in VR suitability. To understand the neurobiological basis of this variability, we obtained neural structural and functional data from the participants using 3T magnetic resonance imaging. The participants completed one of two tasks (sports training or cognitive task) using VR, which differed in the time scale (months/minutes) and domain (motor learning/attention task). Behavioral results showed that some participants improved their motor skills in the real world after 1-month training in the virtual space or obtained high scores in the 3D attention task (high suitability for VR), whereas others did not (low suitability for VR). Brain structure analysis revealed that the structural properties of the superior and inferior parietal lobes contain information that can predict an individual’s suitability for VR.