Neural Efficiency and Acquired Motor Skills: An fMRI Study of Expert Athletes

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Lanlan Zhang¹  Fanghui Qiu²  Hua Zhu³  Mingqiang Xiang⁴  Liangjun Zhou¹ 

[1] Department of Leisure Sports and Management, Guangzhou Sport University;Department of Physical Education, Qingdao University;Department of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University;Department of Sport and Health, Guangzhou Sport University

关键词: neural efficiency;    motor imagery;    motor representation;    motor repertoire;    task-specific;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02752

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

The neural efficiency hypothesis was investigated. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to study the differences in brain activity between athletes imagining performing different movements: basketball athletes imagined throwing and volleyball athletes imagined serving. These comparisons of brain activity among athletes imagining movements from their self-sport (e.g., a basketball throw in basketball athletes) versus movements from other sport (e.g., a volleyball serve in basketball athletes) revealed the neural energy consumption each task costs. The results showed better temporal congruence between motor execution and motor imagery and vividness of motor imagery, but lower levels of activation in the left putamen, inferior parietal lobule, supplementary motor area, postcentral gyrus, and the right insula when both groups of athletes imagined movements from their self-sport compared with when they imagined movements from the other-sport. Athletes were more effective in the representation of the motor sequences and the interoception of the motor sequences for their self-sport. The findings of present study suggest that elite athletes achieved superior behavioral performance with minimal neural energy consumption, thus confirming the neural efficiency hypotheses.

【 授权许可】

CC BY