Adaptive neural activation patterns in basketball athletes: insights from emotional processing using fMRI

The impact of long-term exercise training on emotional processing remains unclear. This study investigated the neural activation patterns during emotional processing in collegiate basketball athletes compared to non-athletes. We utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine 37 basketball athletes and 38 age- and gender-matched non-athletes while they performed the Emotional Faces Task and Intense Emotion Task. Participants' emotional states were assessed using various psychological questionnaires. In the Emotional Faces Task, athletes exhibited decreased activation in the left medial frontal gyrus, left paracentral lobule, and left cingulate gyrus when viewing neutral faces and increased activation in the right parahippocampal gyrus and right temporal lobe when viewing happy faces. In the Intense Emotion Task, the athletes exhibited increased activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus, left precentral gyrus, and right middle temporal gyrus when viewing fearful pictures. Conversely, they showed decreased activation in the bilateral medial frontal gyri, anterior cingulate cortex, bilateral rectus gyri, right middle occipital gyrus, right cuneus, and right cerebellum posterior lobe when viewing fearful pictures minus neutral pictures. Basketball athletes demonstrated distinct neural adaptations in emotional processing, suggesting a potential enhancement in performance and well-being under competitive stress. These findings contribute to understanding how long-term athletic training may influence brain function and emotional regulation.