Basketball players' brains are wired differently, new MRI data suggest
Are the brains of basketball greats like Michael Jordon and LeBron James wired in a way that gives them superior athletic abilities?
Although some form of neural superiority may not be the driving factor behind an elite athlete’s talent, new evidence suggests that these individuals have unique structure and connectivity patterns in their brains. Experts involved in the research shared their findings recently in the Journal of Exercise Science & Fitness, detailing specific functional MRI findings they believe are specific to high caliber basketball players.
“Given that basketball is a teamwork [sport] played in a large arena that requires participants to utilize a more diverse set of skills, there are relatively complex physiological reflections behind changes in an individual's basketball skills level,” Lei Mo, with the Center for Studies of Psychological Application at South China Normal University, and colleagues explained. “Neuroimaging techniques allow us to delve into the neurophysiological mechanisms behind sports skill acquisition.”
The group conducted functional MRI scans on the brains of 60 individuals—20 advanced basketball players, 20 intermediate players and 20 age-matched non-athletes with no experience playing the sport—to examine how brain structure and function differ between individuals with varying athletic abilities. Using these scans, the team calculated and compared each individual’s voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC), amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (ALFF) and gray matter (GM) density—measures that give researchers insight into an individual's executive function, coordination and motor skills.
Several differences in these measures were observed in each group. First, experts unearthed higher VMHC in the bilateral postcentral gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, and superior temporal gyrus in the advanced basketball players; that same group also displayed higher gray matter density in the right precentral gyrus.
Compared to non-athletes, both groups of basketball players displayed greater connectivity in areas responsible for decision-making and motor function and control, which are integral to athleticism. Conversely, the athlete groups both showed decreased activity in the hippocampus. This could be due to chronic stress responses stemming from intense training and competition pressures, the authors suggested, though they cautioned that this phenomenon is lacking sufficient research to explain it.
“Direct evidence linking reduced spontaneous activity in the hippocampus (HIP) to chronic stress is currently lacking,” the authors noted. “To address this gap, future studies should incorporate comprehensive psychological stress measurements and HIP/PHG spontaneous activity to elucidate the relationship between stress levels and HIP/PHG function in basketball athletes.”
Learn more about the findings here.
In addition to her background in journalism, Hannah also has patient-facing experience in clinical settings, having spent more than 12 years working as a registered rad tech. She began covering the medical imaging industry for Innovate Healthcare in 2021.