The Optimization in Sensorimotor System in Dancers: Evidences from Resting State fMRI / 中国运动医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the functional improvement of dancers' sensorimotor system after years of dance training.Methods Twenty-three dancers(the dance group) of more than 6 years of dancing experience and twenty-one college students (the control group) without any dance experience were recruited in this study.Then the resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging(RS-fMRI) was conducted for both groups and the data were collected.Regional homogeneity (ReHo),fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (fALFF) and functional connectivity (FC) were compared between the two groups.Results Compared to the control group,significant increase was observed in the ReHo of the bilateral postcentral gyruses,the left superior temporal gyrus,the right precentral gyrus and the middle occipital gyrus and fALFF in the bilateral precentral gyruses of the dance group.Moreover,the connection between the right precentral gyrus and left precentral gyrus and the FC between the right precentral gyrus and bilateral postcentral gyrus enhanced significantly in the dance group compared to the control group.Conclusions The functional modulation of dancers' sensorimotor system may be associated with the long-term dancing experience,which may lead to the changes in action perception,memory processing,motor learning and movement control to enhance the formation of the mode to observe,implement and adjust complex actions.Our study has provided a supporting evidence for dancing-induced brain plasticity.