Structural Brain Plasticity Change in Athletes Associated with Different Sports

In this paper,using functional magnetic resonance imaging and voxel based morphometry,we compared the brain gray matter structure differences of 13 badminton players,13 basketball player and 16non-athletes.The results show that the gray matter volume in the precentral gyrus,left inferior parietal lobule,postcentral gyrus,left orbitofrontal cortex,superior temporal gyrus of athletes were significantly higher than that of non-athletes,showing that long term training for different sports cause the brain structure of athletes of different sports to produce similar plasticity changes.In addition,the results showed the gray matter volume in the left inferior frontal gyrus,left superior parietal lobule and left precuneus of the badminton athletes increased significantly compared to basketball athlete;and the gray matter volume in the inferior temporal gyrus,left middle frontal gyrus,left inferior frontal gyrus,cingulate gyrus of the insula of basketball player increased significantly compared to badminton players,showing that the specific sports have impact on structure of the brain of athletes of different sports.