delineating-role-alpha-waves-exercise-induced-neural-changes-through

Delineating the Role of Alpha Waves in Exercise-induced Neural Changes through Resting-state EEG

Exercise intervention demonstrates unique potential in treating emotional dysregulation, yet the ambiguity of its neuromodulation targets hinders the ...

event-related-potential-study-on-effect-ego-depletion-on-perceptual

Event-Related Potential Study on the Effect of Ego Depletion on Perceptual Anticipation Under Negative Emotion

The present study employed a combination of behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) measures to investigate the effect of ego depletion on perceptual ...

effects-transcranial-random-noise-stimulation-on-cognitive-functions

Effects of Transcranial Random Noise Stimulation On Cognitive Functions in Healthy Adults: Evidence From A Systematic Review And Meta-analysis

Transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) has attracted increasing attention as a neuromodulation tool; however, findings on its cognitive effects ...

a-standardized-metabolomics-protocol-for-analyzing-exercise-induced

A Standardized Metabolomics Protocol For Analyzing Exercise-Induced Metabolic Shifts In Elite Boxers By Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

Elite boxing induces rapid metabolic changes that are not fully captured by conventional physiological measurements. A standardized untargeted serum ...

Wuhan Sports University

Extensive studies have shown that a sports expert is superior to a sports novice in visually perceptual-cognitive processes of sports scene information, however the attentional and neural basis of it has not been thoroughly explored. The present study examined whether a sport expert has the attentional superiority on scene information relevant to his/her sport skill, and explored what factor drives this superiority. To address this problem, EEGs were recorded as participants passively viewed sport scenes (tennis vs. non-tennis) and negative emotional faces in the context of a visual attention task, where the pictures of sport scenes or of negative emotional faces randomly followed the pictures with overlapping sport scenes and negative emotional faces. ERP results showed that for experts, the evoked potential of attentional competition elicited by the overlap of tennis scene was significantly larger than that evoked by the overlap of non-tennis scene, while this effect was absent for novices. The LORETA showed that the experts' left medial frontal gyrus (MFG) cortex was significantly more active as compared to the right MFG when processing the overlap of tennis scene, but the lateralization effect was not significant in novices. Those results indicate that experts have attentional superiority on skill-related scene information, despite intruding the scene through negative emotional faces that are prone to cause negativity bias toward their visual field as a strong distractor. This superiority is actuated by the activation of left MFG cortex and probably due to self-reference.

The Sport Expert's Attention Superiority on Skill-related Scene Dynamic by the Activation of left Medial Frontal Gyrus: An ERP and LORETA Study.

Depression is associated with functional brain impairments, although comprehensive studies remain limited. This study reviews neural mechanisms underlying cognitive impairment in depression and identifies associated activation abnormalities in brain regions. The study also explores the underlying neural processes of cognitive benefits of exercise intervention for depression. Executive function impairments, including working memory, inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility are associated with frontal cortex and anterior cingulate areas, especially dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Depression is associated with certain neural impairments of reward processing, especially orbitofrontal cortex, prefrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens and other striatal regions. Depressed patients exhibit decreased activity in the hippocampus during memory function. Physical exercise has been found to enhance memory function, executive function, and reward processing in depression patients by increasing functional brain regions and the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) as a nutritional factor also plays a key role in exercise intervention. The study documents neurophysiological mechanisms behind exercise intervention's improved functions. In summary, the study provides insights into neural mechanisms underlying cognitive impairments in depression and the effectiveness of exercise as a treatment.

Neural mechanisms underlying cognitive impairment in depression and cognitive benefits of exercise intervention.

Understanding the neurocognitive mechanisms that govern the coordination of habitual and goal-directed behaviors is important, because impaired coordination will cause various behavioral disorders. However, inducing habitual responses in human beings through repetitive stimuli-response training in a laboratory setting is a challenge. Well-trained sports athletes, who have automatic perception-action associations toward expertise-related stimuli, provide a natural sample to address this critical knowledge gap. We recorded electroencephalograms (EEG) of well-trained sports athletes while they performed a Simon task with expertise-related stimuli. By manipulating the congruency between the location of expertise-related stimuli and the response hand, we dissociated automatic habitual response and goal-directed inhibition control. We observed a stronger behavioral congruency effect on expertise-related stimuli than neutral stimuli in sports athletes but not healthy controls. Furthermore, sports athletes exhibited larger response-locked lateralized readiness potentials and stronger frontocentral beta band (15-25 Hz) activity in the congruent condition than the incongruent condition, which indicate an enhanced response tendency toward expertise-related stimuli. In contrast, prominent mid-frontal theta (3-7 Hz) activity observed in the incongruent condition signaled the involvement of response inhibition. Additionally, lateralized readiness potentials amplitude and theta power showed significant correlation with performance efficiency. Taken together, these results suggest that sports athletes exhibit an enhanced coordination for expertise-related stimuli, involving automatic response preparation and proficient response inhibition through extensive training.

Neural dynamics underlying coordination between training-induced habitual and goal-directed responses.

Anxiety is known to significantly impair cognitive function, particularly attentional control. While exercise has been demonstrated to alleviate these cognitive deficits, the precise neural mechanisms underlying these effects remain poorly understood. This study examines the effects of exercise on attentional control in individuals with high trait anxiety, based on attentional control theory, which suggests that such individuals have reduced top-down attention. Thirty-eight participants were randomly assigned to either an exercise group or a reading group. The exercise group engaged in 30 min of moderate-intensity cycling, while the reading group spent 30 min reading quietly. In Experiment 1, goal-directed attention was assessed using a cue-object paradigm, and in Experiment 2, inhibitory control was evaluated through a visual search task. EEG data indicated that the exercise group exhibited significantly larger Pd components in both experiments, suggesting enhanced attentional focus and improved inhibition of distractors. These findings suggest that aerobic exercise enhances top-down attentional processes, particularly goal-directed attention and distractor inhibition, offering potential as an intervention for individuals with high trait anxiety.

The effects of aerobic exercise on goal-directed attention and inhibitory control in individuals with high trait anxiety: an EEG study.

As a substitute for traditional drug therapy, digital cognitive-behavioral therapy positively impacts the regulation of brain function, which can improve insomnia. However, there is currently a paucity of studies on digital cognitive behavioral therapy as a treatment for insomnia.

ArticleTotal : 4	Year
Publication title	2025
Publication title	2025
Publication title	2026
Publication title	2026

Article	Year
The Sport Expert's Attention Superiority on Skill-related Scene Dynamic by the Activation of left Medial Frontal Gyrus: An ERP and LORETA Study. Neuroscience\| PubMed ID: 29524640	2018
Neural mechanisms underlying cognitive impairment in depression and cognitive benefits of exercise intervention. Behavioural brain research\| PubMed ID: 39182624	2025
Neural dynamics underlying coordination between training-induced habitual and goal-directed responses. Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience\| PubMed ID: 39638922	2025
The effects of aerobic exercise on goal-directed attention and inhibitory control in individuals with high trait anxiety: an EEG study. BMC psychology\| PubMed ID: 39885607	2025
Digital cognitive behavioral therapy as a novel treatment for insomnia. World journal of psychiatry\| PubMed ID: 40309579	2025

Mengyang He

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