Abstract
Tai Chi Chuan (TCC) is assumed to exert beneficial effects on functional brain activity and cognitive function in elders. Until now, empirical evidence of TCC induced intra-regional spontaneous neural activity and inhibitory control remains inconclusive. Whether the effect of TCC is better than that of other aerobic exercises is still unknown, and the role of TCC in younger adults is not yet fully understood. Here we used resting-state functional MRI (fMRI) to investigate the effects of 8-week TCC (n = 12) and brisk walking (BW, n = 12) on inhibitory control and fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF). The results found that TCC had significant effects on inhibitory control performance and spontaneous neural activity that were associated with significantly increased fALFF in the left medial superior frontal gyrus (Cohen’s d = 1.533) and the right fusiform gyrus (Cohen’s d = 1.436) and decreased fALFF in the right dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus (Cohen’s d = 1.405) and the right paracentral lobule (Cohen’s d = 1.132).TCC exhibited stronger effects on spontaneous neural activity than the BW condition, as reflected in significantly increased fALFF in the left medial superior frontal gyrus (Cohen’s d = 0.862). There was a significant positive correlation between the increase in fALFF in the left medial superior frontal gyrus and the enhancement in inhibitory control performance. The change in fALFF in the left medial superior frontal gyrus was able to explain the change in inhibitory control performance induced by TCC. In conclusion, our results indicated that 8 weeks of TCC intervention could improve processing efficiency related to inhibitory control and alter spontaneous neural activity in young adults, and TCC had potential advantages over BW intervention for optimizing spontaneous neural activity.
Highlights
Inhibition is a cognitive control process that allows us to suppress dominant and automatic responses to goal-irrelevant stimuli when needed (Nigg, 2000)
The results showed that inhibitory control performance was significantly improved in the Tai Chi Chuan (TCC) group compared to that in the control group (p = 0.009, Cohen’s d = 1.014)
This study aimed to examine the potential advantages of TCC for promoting inhibitory control and modulating spontaneous neural activity in young adults
Summary
Inhibition is a cognitive control process that allows us to suppress dominant and automatic responses to goal-irrelevant stimuli when needed (Nigg, 2000). It plays significant and intricate roles in different dimensions of thinking and behavioral processes, including attention (Gardner and Long, 1962), emotional perception (Ozonoff et al, 1991), and emotional regulation (Pessoa, 2009; Hendricks and Buchanan, 2016). Motor learning and exercise interventions have been found to induce neural plasticity in the resting brain (Wayne and Fuerst, 2013)
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