Peculiarities of Functional Connectivity—including Cross-Modal Patterns—in Professional Karate Athletes: Correlations with Cognitive and Motor Performances

Abstract

Professional karate is a sport activity requiring both physical and psychological skills that have been associated with a better “global neural efficacy.” By means of resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI), we investigated the neural correlates of cognitive and kinematic abilities in a group of 14 professional karateka and 14 heathy matched controls. All subjects underwent an extensive cognitive test battery for the identification of individual multidimensional cognitive profile and rs-fMRI scans investigating functional connectivity (FC). Moreover, kinematic performances in athletes were quantified by the Ergo-Mak, an integrated system developed for measuring motor reactivity, strength, and power of athletic gestures. Karateka performed significantly better than controls in the visual search task, an ability linked with increased positive correlations in FC between the right superior parietal lobe and bilateral occipital poles. Kinematic performances of athletic feats were sustained by increased positive correlations between subcortical (cerebellum and left thalamus) and cortical (inferior frontal cortex, superior parietal cortex, superior temporal cortex) regions. An unexpected FC increase between auditory and motor-related areas emerged in karateka, possibly reflecting a cross-modal coupling due to the continuous exposure to either internal or external auditory cues, positing this sensory channel as a possible target for novel training strategies. Results represent a further step in defining brain correlates of “neural efficiency” in these athletes, whose brain can be considered a model of continuous plastic train-related adaptation.

Neural Efficiency in Athletes: A Systematic Review

“… 1 = Babiloni et al ( 2009 ); 2 = Babiloni et al ( 2010 ); 3 = Berti et al ( 2019 ); 4= Costanzo et al ( 2016 ); 5 = Del Percio et al ( 2008 ); 6 = Del Percio et al ( 2009b ); 7 = Del Percio et al ( 2010 ); 8 = Del Percio et al ( 2011 ); 9 = Del Percio et al ( 2019 ); 10 = Di Russo et al ( 2005 ); 11 = Duru and Assem ( 2018 ); 12 = Guo et al ( 2017 ); 13 = Hatta et al ( 2009 ); 14 = Iwadate et al ( 2005 ); 15 = Kim et al ( 2014 ); 16 = Kita et al ( 2001 ); 17 = Milton et al ( 2007 ); 18 = Naito and Hirose ( 2014 ); 19 = Nakamoto and Mori ( 2008 ); 20 = Olsson et al ( 2008 ); 21 = Park et al ( 2020 ); 22 = Qiu et al ( 2019 ); 23 = Wang and Tu ( 2017 ), 24 = Wei and Li ( 2017 ); 25 = (Wei and Li, 2018 ); 26 = Yamashiro et al ( 2015 ); 27 = Yang et al ( 2020 ); 28 = Zhang et al ( 2019 ) . fMRI, Functional magnetic resonance imaging; EEG, Electroencephalogram; fNIRS, Functional near-infrared spectroscopy .…”

“…fMRI, Functional magnetic resonance imaging; EEG, Electroencephalogram; fNIRS, Functional near-infrared spectroscopy . Duru and Assem ( 2018 ) used both fMRI and EEG in their study; Berti et al ( 2019 ) and Yang et al ( 2020 ) applied rs-fMRI in their study .…”

“…Duru and Assem ( 2018 ) used both fMRI and EEG in their study; Berti et al ( 2019 ) and Yang et al ( 2020 ) applied rs-fMRI in their study .…”

“…The basic movements of the karate discipline, however, restrict the FC analysis of athletes, and subjects in the control group cannot replicate these gestures (3). It is not reliable to conclude that “differences in FC results are specific for karate athletes, as athletes of other martial arts have not been tested” (Berti et al, 2019 , p. 11). Second, the evidence found in the selected studies indicates that expert advantages in perceptual-cognitive tasks mainly occur in sport-specific tasks rather general tasks (1, 3 12, 19, 22, 24, 25).…”

“…However, this efficiency is situational, depending on other contextual factors such as the traffic, weather, and other states that may fluctuate from one day to the next (e.g., your mood, alertness, etc.). Therefore, neuroplasticity is ever-present in human life, and its characteristics are individual- and situation-dependent (Gourgouvelis et al, 2017 ; Berti et al, 2019 ).…”