The Effect of Bafa Wubu of Tai Chi on Updating in College Students: Evidence from Spontaneous Neural Activity

Objective: To explore the effect and neural mechanism of Bafa Wubu of Tai Chi on updating, and to provide a new approach and scientific reference for improving the updating in college students. Methods: A total of thirty-six college students participated in this study, and a 3(group: Tai Chi group, general aerobic exercise group, control group)×2(time: pre, post) mixed factorial design was used in the experiments. 3-back task and rs-fMRI were used to assess the updating and monitor the spontaneous neural activity at before and after the 8-week intervention. Results: 1) Compared with pre-test, the response time(RT) of updating in BWTC was significantly decreased at post-test, and it was also significantly lower than that of BW and CG; 2) The 8-week BWTC was significantly increased the fALFF in the right fusiform gyrus(FFG.R) and left medial superior frontal gyrus(SFGmed.L), and it was significantly decreased the fALFF in the right dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus(SFGdor. R) and right central parietal lobule(PCL.R). In addition, the 8-week BW was significantly increased the fALFF in the FFG.R, and significantly decreased the increasing trend of the fALFF in the SFGdor.R and PCL.R. Compared with BW, the BWTC was significantly enhanced the fALFF in SFGmed.L. The correlation and regression analysis showed a positive correlation between the change of the RT of updating and the change of fALFF in the SFGdor. R, and the decrease of fALFF in the SFGdor. R could explain 80.2% of the observed decrease of RT of updating; 3) The results showed a significant enhancement of the functional connectivity between the left angular gyrus and the SFGdor.R after BWTC intervention; 4) The BWTC was significantly promoted the local and global efficiency, and the enhancement of local efficiency was significantly higher than that of the BW. Conclusion: 1) 8-week of BWTC intervention can improve the efficiency of updating in college students, which is greater than that of BW; 2) 8-week of BWTC and BW intervention can effectively promote the optimization of spontaneous neural activity, and the effect of BWTC is greater which is mainly reflected through the increase of the fALFF in SFGmed.L, the functional connectivity between SFGdor.R and ANG.L, and the enhancement of local efficiency in brain functional networks; 3) BWTC has the advantage of improving college students' updating function, and the potential mechanism may be related to the optimization of spontaneous neural activity.