“No Pain No Gain”: Evidence from a Parcel-Wise Brain Morphometry Study on the Volitional Quality of Elite Athletes

Abstract

Volition is described as a psychological construct with great emphasis on the sense of agency. During volitional behavior, an individual always presents a volitional quality, an intrapersonal trait for dealing with adverse circumstances, which determines the individual’s persistence of action toward their intentions or goals. Elite athletes are a group of experts with superior volitional quality and, thereby, could be regarded as the natural subject pool to investigate this mental trait. The purpose of this study was to examine brain morphometric characteristics associated with volitional quality by using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and the Scale of Volitional Quality. We recruited 16 national-level athletes engaged in short track speed skating and 18 healthy controls matched with age and gender. A comparison of a parcel-wise brain anatomical characteristics of the healthy controls with those of the elite athletes revealed three regions with significantly increased cortical thickness in the athlete group. These regions included the left precuneus, the left inferior parietal lobe, and the right superior frontal lobe, which are the core brain regions involved in the sense of agency. The mean cortical thickness of the left inferior parietal lobe was significantly correlated with the independence of volitional quality (a mental trait that characterizes one’s intendency to control his/her own behavior and make decisions by applying internal standards and/or objective criteria). These findings suggest that sports training is an ideal model for better understanding the neural mechanisms of volitional behavior in the human brain.

Structural brain morphology in young adult women who have been choked/strangled during sex: A whole‐brain surface morphometry study

“…regions of the brain compared to healthy controls (Gaist et al, 2018;Khundrakpam et al, 2017), whereas retired athletes exposed to years of head impacts show cortical thinning compared to controls (Koerte et al, 2016;Wei et al, 2020). In our choking group, we observed significant increases in cortical thickness in the areas that are important for visual processing (e.g., parietal lobule and lateral occipital gyrus), working memory (e.g., middle frontal gyrus), language (e.g., supramarginal gyrus), object recognition (e.g., fusiform gyrus), and motor control (e.g., precentral gyrus).…”

“…The direction of changes (thickening vs. thinning) often depends on the brain regions and the nature of the neurologic insults or conditions, such that an instance of cortical thickening does not necessarily indicate a healthier brain than cortical thinning (Fischl & Dale, 2000 ). For example, patients with autism spectrum disorders and migraine exhibit cortical thickening in many regions of the brain compared to healthy controls (Gaist et al., 2018 ; Khundrakpam et al., 2017 ), whereas retired athletes exposed to years of head impacts show cortical thinning compared to controls (Koerte et al., 2016 ; Wei et al., 2020 ). In our choking group, we observed significant increases in cortical thickness in the areas that are important for visual processing (e.g., parietal lobule and lateral occipital gyrus), working memory (e.g., middle frontal gyrus), language (e.g., supramarginal gyrus), object recognition (e.g., fusiform gyrus), and motor control (e.g., precentral gyrus).…”

Exercise Intensity and Brain Plasticity: What’s the Difference of Brain Structural and Functional Plasticity Characteristics Between Elite Aerobic and Anaerobic Athletes?

“…Activity in the parietal lobe is often associated with movement observation (Buccino et al, 2001) and motor performance in elite athletes (Yarrow et al, 2009). Furthermore, in a recent study, the left parietal lobe was found to be associated with volitional qualities (Wei et al, 2020). Aerobic athletes may have greater willpower than anaerobic athletes because they need to perform relatively longer and harder exercises.…”

Dynamical Complexity Fingerprints of Occupation-Dependent Brain Functional Networks in Professional Seafarers

“…Strong brain plasticity appears in the first few years of life, but various factors throughout adulthood still affect the morphology of brain structure and function. Occupation is a key factor that shapes our brain, which is closely related to our daily life, and exerts a subtle and persistent influence on brain plasticity changes (Wang N. et al, 2017(Wang N. et al, , 2018Dottori et al, 2020;Wei et al, 2020;Wu et al, 2020). Some studies have shown that the complexity of brain organization is an effective biomarker that reflects the individual's brain health level (Goldberger et al, 2002), aging (Sokunbi et al, 2011), cardiovascular diseases (Richman and Moorman, 2000), the neural effects of drug use (Ferenets et al, 2007), etc.…”