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Skill-Specific Changes in Somatosensory Nogo Potentials in Baseball Players
Koya Yamashiro1,2, Daisuke Sato1,2, Hideaki Onishi1,3
1Institute for Human Movement and Medical Sciences, Niigata University of Health and Welfare, Niigata City, Japan.
Plos One
|November 25, 2015
Summary
Baseball players exhibit enhanced motor inhibition compared to other athletes, indicated by faster Nogo-N2 potentials. This suggests specific athletic training can alter sensorimotor inhibitory processes.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Sports Science
- Motor Control
Background:
- Athletic training induces neuroplasticity in somatosensory pathways.
- Changes in somatosensory evoked and event-related potentials are known indicators.
- The impact of training on Nogo potentials, related to movement inhibition, remains less understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if specific athletic training affects somatosensory Nogo potentials.
- To compare Nogo potentials between athletes with and without response inhibition demands in their sport.
Main Methods:
- Recorded Nogo potentials at nine cortical sites in baseball players and athletes in non-inhibitory sports.
- Utilized a somatosensory Go/Nogo paradigm to measure Nogo potentials and reaction times.
- Calculated Nogo potentials by subtracting Go trials from Nogo trials.
Main Results:
- Baseball players showed significantly shorter peak Nogo-N2 latency compared to the sports group.
- The frontal Nogo-N2 amplitude was significantly larger in the baseball group.
- Nogo-N2 latency correlated positively with Go/Nogo reaction times.
Conclusions:
- Specific athletic training, like baseball, may induce neuroplastic changes in sensorimotor inhibitory processes.
- Enhanced inhibitory control is suggested by altered Nogo potentials in baseball players.
- Findings highlight the brain's adaptability to sport-specific demands.
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