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

Previous studies have shown that sport experts are different from novices in functions and structures of the cerebellar sub-regions and the functional connectivity (FC) associated with the cerebellum, suggesting the role of the cerebellum on motor skill learning (MSL). However, the manipulation of individuals with different motor skills fails to exclude the effects of innate talents. In addition, individuals with higher motor skills often start with the MSL in their young ages. It is still unclear whether the effects regarding the cerebellum would be shown at one's adult age. The present study was to directly alter individuals' motor skills to investigate whether MSL (taking learning to play badminton as an example) in adulthood influences resting-state activity in the cerebellum. To this end, young adults without ball training experience were recruited as participants and were assigned randomly into the experimental group and the control group. Participants in the experimental group were asked to attend a badminton training course for 12 weeks, while the control group did not regularly attend any ball sports during this period. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was recorded before and after the training. Results showed that compared to the control group, the experimental group had smaller amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) in right cerebellar hemispheric VI and left VIII after training. For the experimental group, right hemispheric VIII had a stronger FC with left hemispheric IV-V, cerebellar vermal IX, left middle cingulate gyrus and right hippocampus after training. Taken together, these findings suggested that MSL, at least learning to play badminton in adulthood, reduces resting-state activity in different sub-regions in the cerebellum but increases FC between sub-regions of the cerebellum as well as between sub-regions of the cerebellum and cerebral cortices (e.g., middle cingulate cortex and hippocampus).

The effect of badminton training on the ability of same-domain action anticipation for adult novices: Evidence from behavior and ERPs.

Many transverse studies have found that athletes can better anticipate the outcome of sequential actions belonging to their domain of motor expertise than non-athletes. However, few studies have causally investigated this issue. Using badminton training as an example, the present study attempted to explore whether sports training affected the same-domain action anticipation ability of adult novices and the related neural mechanisms. To address this issue, participants in the training group attended a 12-week badminton training course (1h/time, 3 times/week). Both the training and control groups were asked to view badminton video clips and predict the landing position of a shuttle before and after 12 weeks. Compared to the control group, the training group showed a decrease in the inverse efficiency score, indicating that badminton training did improve trainees' action anticipation ability. Furthermore, the training group produced larger N2 and P3 components of event-related potential after the training. These findings suggest that sport training may affect inhibitory processes and memory encoding during same-domain action anticipation.