Differences in brain activation during working memory tasks between badminton athletes and non-athletes: An fNIRS study.

BACKGROUND: Working memory refers to our ability to temporarily store and process information, and it is crucial for efficient cognition and motor control. In the context of badminton matches, athletes need to make quick decisions and reactions in rapidly changing situations. Athletes with strong working memory capacity can better process this information and translate it into actual motor performance. Although previous research has demonstrated that exercise can improve brain function and structure, it remains unclear how the brain functions of athletes engaged in long-term professional training are specifically involved in performing working memory tasks. METHOD: In this study, we assessed behavioral performance and cerebral oxygenation in the prefrontal lobe, using functional near-infrared spectroscopy, with 22 athletes and 30 non-athletes. Each participant was evaluated while performing 1-back, 2-back, and 3-back tasks. The area under the curve (AUC) of HbO (oxyhemoglobin) is used as an indicator of cortical brain oxygenation. RESULTS: The behavioral performance results indicated no difference between badminton athletes and non-athletes in the n-back task. We observed significantly different activation in channels of left FPA, right DLPFC, and left VLPFC when performing 3-back tasks. Brain activation indicated that long-term training in badminton caused a better performance in high-load working memory tasks. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term professional training in badminton primarily activates the left frontal-parietal attention network (left FPA), right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (right DLPFC), and left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (left VLPFC) during working memory tasks.

Reduced left dorsolateral prefrontal activation in problematic smartphone users during the Stroop task: An fNIRS study.

Introduction: The widespread use of smartphones has triggered concern over problematic smartphone use (PSPU), as well as the need to elucidate its underlying mechanisms. However, the correlation between cortical activation and deficient inhibitory control in PSPU remains unclear. Methods: This study examined inhibitory control using the color-word matching Stroop task and its cortical-activation responses using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in college students with PSPU (n = 56) compared with a control group (n = 54). Results: At the behavioral level, Stroop interference, coupled with reaction time, was significantly greater in the PSPU group than in the control group. Changes in oxygenated hemoglobin (Oxy-Hb) signals associated with Stroop interference were significantly increased in the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, left frontopolar area, and bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Moreover, the PSPU group had lower Oxy-Hb signal changes associated with Stroop interference in the left-DLPFC, relative to controls. Discussion: These results provide first behavioral and neuroscientific evidence using event-related fNIRS method, to our knowledge, that college students with PSPU may have a deficit in inhibitory control associated with lower cortical activation in the left-DLPFC.