Effects of Exercise Intervention on Executive Function and Gray Matter Volume in Deaf Children

Objective: To investigate the effect of exercise intervention on executive function (EF) and gray matter volume (GMV) in deaf children, and further explored the neural basis of exercise intervention on EF in deaf children. Methods: Twenty eight deaf children, recruited from two special education schools, were randomly assigned into control or exercise group. The exercise group was offered an after-school exercise program at moderate intensity for 30-min, four times per week for 11 weeks. All subjects were subjected to complete a set of EF tasks (Flanker 、 2-back 、 More-odd shifting) and brain scans both at baseline and after intervention for detecting changes of EF behavior performance and GMV, based on the voxel-based morphometry (VBM) technique. Results: Compared with the no-intervention, the exercise intervention benefitted performance in the EF task, decreased gray matter volume in the right Anterior Cerebellum (Cerebellum; MNI coordinates: 25.5, -40.5, -19.5; 117 voxels) , left Inferior Occipital Gyrus (IOG; MNI coordinates:-48, -61.5, -13.5; 139 voxels) , right Medial Orbito-Frontal (MOF; MNI coordinates: 3, 51, -3; 122 voxels) , left Median Cingulate and Paracingulate Gyri (DCG; MNI coordinates:-1.5, 28.5, 33; 131 voxels) , left Inferior Parietal, but Supramarginal and Angular Gyri (IPL; MNI coordinates:-46.5, -34.5, 52.5; 104 voxels) , right Precuneus (PCUN; MNI coordinates: 10.5, -43.5, 69; 200 voxels) , right Postcentral Gyrus (Po CG; MNI coordinates: 28.5, -36, 66; 124 voxels) ; Further, right Anterior Cerebellum had a significant correlation with behavior performance improvement. Conclusion: These data extend the current knowledge by indicating that exercise intervention enhances deaf children's EF, which the neural basis may be related to the decreased GMV in the right Anterior Cerebellum elicited by exercise intervention.