Department of Health and Sports, Niigata University of Health and Welfare, Japan; Institute for Human Movement and Medical Sciences, Niigata University of Health and Welfare, Japan.
Research Fellow of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan; Laboratory of Exercise Biochemistry and Neuroendocrinology, Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Japan; Sports Neuroscience Division, Advanced Research Initiative for Human High Performance (ARIHHP), Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Japan.
Behav Brain Res. 2020 Oct 1;395:112835. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2020.112835. Epub 2020 Aug 1.
Motor skill learning leads to task-related contextual behavioral changes that are underpinned by neuroplastic cortical reorganization. Short-term training induces environment-related contextual behavioral changes and neuroplastic changes in the primary motor cortex (M1). However, it is unclear whether environment-related contextual behavioral changes persist after long-term training and how cortical plastic changes are involved in behavior. To address these issues, we examined 14 elite competitive swimmers and 14 novices. We hypothesized that the sensorimotor skills of swimmers would be higher in a water environment than those of novices, and the recruitment of corticospinal and intracortical projections would be different between swimmers and novices. We assessed joint angle modulation performance as a behavioral measure and motor cortical excitation and inhibition using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) at rest and during the tasks that were performed before, during, and after water immersion (WI). Motor cortical inhibition was measured with short-interval intracortical inhibition and long-interval intracortical inhibition by a paired-pulse TMS paradigm. We found that 1) the sensorimotor skills of swimmers who underwent long-term training in a water environment were superior and robustly unchanged compared with those of novices with respect to baseline on land, during WI, on land post-WI and 2) intracortical inhibition in water environments was increased in swimmers but was decreased in non-swimmers at rest compared to that on land; however, the latter alterations in intracortical inhibition in water environment were insufficient to account for the superior sensorimotor skills of swimmers. In conclusion, we demonstrate that environment-related contextual behavioral and neural changes occur even with long-term training experience.
运动技能学习导致与任务相关的上下文行为变化，这些变化是由神经可塑性皮质重组支撑的。短期训练会引起与环境相关的上下文行为变化和初级运动皮层（M1）的神经可塑性变化。然而，目前尚不清楚长期训练后与环境相关的上下文行为变化是否会持续，以及皮质可塑性变化如何参与行为。为了解决这些问题，我们检查了 14 名精英竞技游泳运动员和 14 名新手。我们假设游泳运动员在水环境中的运动技能比新手高，并且游泳运动员和新手之间的皮质脊髓和皮质内投射的募集会有所不同。我们评估了关节角度调制性能作为行为测量指标，并使用经颅磁刺激（TMS）在休息时和在进行任务期间评估运动皮层的兴奋和抑制，这些任务在水环境之前、期间和之后进行。通过双脉冲 TMS 范式测量短程和长程皮质内抑制来测量运动皮层抑制。我们发现，1）长期接受水环境训练的游泳运动员的运动技能优于且相对于陆地的基线，在水环境中，在水环境后陆地和 2）在水环境中，游泳运动员的皮质内抑制在休息时增加，但非游泳运动员的皮质内抑制减少；然而，皮质内抑制在水环境中的后一种变化不足以解释游泳运动员优越的运动技能。总之，我们证明了即使经过长期训练，与环境相关的上下文行为和神经变化也会发生。
