Comprehensive Investigation of White Matter Tracts in Professional Chess Players and Relation to Expertise: Region of Interest and DMRI Connectometry.

Mahsa Mayeli,Mohammad Hadi Aarabi,Farzaneh Rahmani

doi:10.3389/fnins.2018.00288

Abstract

Purpose: Expertise is the product of training. Few studies have used functional connectivity or conventional diffusometric methods to identify neural underpinnings of chess expertise. Diffusometric variables of white matter might reflect these adaptive changes, along with changes in structural connectivity, which is a sensitive measure of microstructural changes.Method: Diffusometric variables of 29 professional chess players and 29 age-sex matched controls were extracted for white matter regions based on John Hopkin's Mori white matter atlas and partially correlated against professional training time and level of chess proficiency. Diffusion MRI connectometry was implemented to identify changes in structural connectivity in professional players compared to novices.Result: Compared to novices, higher planar anisotropy (CP) was observed in inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF), superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) and cingulate gyrus, in professional chess players, which correlated with higher RPM score in this group. Higher fractional anisotropy (FA) was observed in ILF, uncinate fasciculus (UF) and hippocampus and correlated with better scores in Raven's progressive matrices (RPM) score and longer duration of chess training in professional players. Consistently, radial diffusivity in bilateral IFOF, bilateral ILF and bilateral SLF was inversely correlated with level of training in professional players. DMRI connectometry analysis identified increased connectivity in bilateral UF, bilateral IFOF, bilateral cingulum, and corpus callosum in chess player's compared to controls.Conclusion: Structural connectivity of major associational subcortical white matter fibers are increased in professional chess players. FA and CP of ILF, SLF and UF directly correlates with duration of professional training and RPM score, in professional chess players.

Highlights

White matter fibers undergo extensive changes during critical periods of maturation (Cao et al, 2016), during long-term practice in complex interpretive tasks (Zuraw et al, 2013), and later during aging
Through Pearson’s partial correlation, we investigated whether axial diffusivity (AD), mean diffusivity (MD), fractional anisotropy (FA) and radial diffusivity (RD) values of the 20 regions defined by the Mori atlas could be predicted by variables related to chess proficiency: total training time in years, score in Raven’s Progressive matrices (RPM) test, or level of the mastership in professional players (Figures 1–3)
We demonstrated that these adaptations directly correlated with level of chess playing and time spent on training chess

Summary

Introduction

White matter fibers undergo extensive changes during critical periods of maturation (Cao et al, 2016), during long-term practice in complex interpretive tasks (Zuraw et al, 2013), and later during aging. Understanding the neural basis by which human brain can make adaptations during mastership challenges has long been an issue of interest. Chess playing has been associated with several cognitive benefits, including improvement in learning transfer to mathematical literacy and problem-solving in children at school age (Sala and Gobet, 2016). Chess is known to improve cognitive reserve in old age (Yang et al, 2016). It is known that chess playing requires expertise in various cognitive tasks, including object perception, pattern recognition, fluid reasoning and speed processing (Burgoyne et al, 2016). Understanding the basis of these alterations has always been a subject of research

Results

Discussion

Conclusion