The Antagonistic Alterations of Cerebellar Functional Segregation and Integration in Athletes with Fast Demands of Visual-Motor Coordination

The theoretical foundation of brain-computer interface partly lies in the neural mechanism of motor function plasticity. There has been extensive research on the functional neuroplasticity induced by motor skill training in the human cerebral cortex; however, less is known about the specifics within the cerebellum. The present study employed resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from athletes and matched non-athlete controls to investigate the adaptation of cerebellar functional segregation and integration in athletes who require rapid visual-motor coordination. First, this study utilized a data-driven blind-deconvolution hemodynamic response functions (HRF) retrieval technique to estimate voxel-wise HRF that represent local functional segregation. Second, the study quantified effective connectivity using conditional Granger causality (CGC) analysis as a means of characterizing directed functional integration. Lastly, the logistic regression classification model was applied to evaluating the importance of those significant features in two groups’ comparison. The athletes exhibited greater HRF response heights in the visual-spatial cognitive regions, but lower excitatory/inhibitory effects between these regions and the motor execution areas in the cerebellum when compared to the control group. These findings suggested that there was improved local functional segregation within the visual-spatial cognitive regions, as well as reduced functional integration between these regions and the motor execution areas in the cerebellum among athletes. Our results suggested the antagonistic alterations of cerebellar functional segregation and integration induced by motor skill training, and consequently to accelerate the reaction, movement planning, and execution in athletes who required fast demands of visual-motor coordination. Our findings shed new light on how motor skill training drove neuroplasticity within the cerebellum and offered a deeper understanding of the complementary hypotheses of neural efficiency and neural proficiency that underlay optimal athletic performance.