Skip to main content
Log in

Skill-specific changes in somatosensory-evoked potentials and reaction times in baseball players

Experimental Brain Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Athletic training is known to induce neuroplastic alterations in specific somatosensory circuits, which are reflected by changes in short-latency somatosensory-evoked potentials (SEPs). The aim of this study is to clarify whether specific training in athletes affects the long-latency SEPs related to information processing of stimulation. The long-latency SEPs P100 and N140 were recorded at midline cortical electrode positions (Fz, Cz, and Pz) in response to stimulation of the index finger of the dominant hand in fifteen baseball players (baseball group) and in fifteen athletes in sports such as swimming, track and field events, and soccer (sports group) that do not require fine somatosensory discrimination or motor control of the hand. The long-latency SEPs were measured under a passive condition (no response required) and a reaction time (RT) condition in which subjects were instructed to rapidly push a button in response to stimulus presentation. The peak P100 and peak N140 latencies and RT were significantly shorter in the baseball group than the sports group. Moreover, there were significant positive correlations between RT and both the peak P100 and the peak N140 latencies. Specific athletic training regimens that involve the hand may induce neuroplastic alterations in the cortical hand representation areas playing a vital role in rapid sensory processing and initiation of motor responses.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allison T, McCarthy G, Wood CC, Williamson PD, Spencer DD (1989) Human cortical potentials evoked by stimulation of the median nerve. II. Cytoarchitectonic areas generating long-latency activity. J Neurophysiol 62:711–722

    Google Scholar 

  • Bulut S, Ozmerdivenli R, Bayer H (2003) Effects of exercise on somatosensory-evoked potentials. Int J Neurosci 113:315–322

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cavina-Pratesi C, Monaco S, Fattori P, Galletti C, McAdam TD, Quinlan DJ, Goodale MA, Culham JC (2010) Functional magnetic resonance imaging reveals the neural substrates of arm transport and grip formation in reach-to-grasp actions in humans. J Neurosci 30:10306–10323

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Delpont E, Dolisi C, Suisse G, Bodino G, Gastaud M (1991) Visual evoked potentials: differences related to physical activity. Int J Sports Med 12:293–298

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Eimer M, Forster B (2003) Modulations of early somatosensory ERP components by transient and sustained spatial attention. Exp Brain Res 151:24–31

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Elbert T, Pantev C, Wienbruch C, Rockstroh B, Taub E (1995) Increased cortical representation of the fingers of the left hand in string players. Science 270:305–307

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Frot M, Mauguiere F (1999) Timing and spatial distribution of somatosensory responses recorded in the upper bank of the sylvian fissure (SII area) in humans. Cereb Cortex 9:854–863

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hari R, Karhu J, Hamalainen M, Knuutila J, Salonen O, Sams M, Vilkman V (1993) Functional organization of the human first and second somatosensory cortices: a neuromagnetic study. Eur J Neurosci 5:724–734

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hashimoto I, Suzuki A, Kimura T, Iguchi Y, Tanosaki M, Takino R, Haruta Y, Taira M (2004) Is there training-dependent reorganization of digit representations in area 3b of string players? Clin Neurophysiol 115:435–447

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Inui K, Wang X, Tamura Y, Kaneoke Y, Kakigi R (2004) Serial processing in the human somatosensory system. Cereb Cortex 14:851–857

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Iwadate M, Mori A, Ashizuka T, Takayose M, Ozawa T (2005) Long-term physical exercise and somatosensory event-related potentials. Exp Brain Res 160:528–532

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kekoni J, Hamalainen H, McCloud V, Reinikainen K, Naatanen R (1996) Is the somatosensory N250 related to deviance discrimination or conscious target detection? Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol 100:115–125

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kida T, Nishihira Y, Wasaka T, Nakata H, Sakamoto M (2004) Passive enhancement of the somatosensory P100 and N140 in an active attention task using deviant alone condition. Clin Neurophysiol 115:871–879

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kida T, Wasaka T, Nakata H, Akatsuka K, Kakigi R (2006a) Active attention modulates passive attention-related neural responses to sudden somatosensory input against a silent background. Exp Brain Res 175:609–617

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kida T, Wasaka T, Inui K, Akatsuka K, Nakata H, Kakigi R (2006b) Centrifugal regulation of human cortical responses to a task-relevant somatosensory signal triggering voluntary movement. Neuroimage 32:1355–1364

    Google Scholar 

  • Mauguiere F, Merlet I, Forss N, Vanni S, Jousmaki V, Adeleine P, Hari R (1997) Activation of a distributed somatosensory cortical network in the human brain. A dipole modelling study of magnetic fields evoked by median nerve stimulation. Part I: location and activation timing of SEF sources. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol 104:281–289

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Murakami T, Sakuma K, Nakashima K (2008) Somatosensory evoked potentials and high-frequency oscillations in athletes. Clin Neurophysiol 119:2862–2869

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nakata H, Yoshie M, Miura A, Kudo K (2010) Characteristics of the athletes’ brain: evidence from neurophysiology and neuroimaging. Brain Res Rev 62:197–211

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nelissen K, Vanduffel W (2011) Grasping-related functional magnetic resonance imaging brain responses in the macaque monkey. J Neurosci 31:8220–8229

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ozmerdivenli R, Bulut S, Bayar H, Karacabey K, Ciloglu F, Peker I, Tan U (2005) Effects of exercise on visual evoked potentials. Int J Neurosci 115:1043–1050

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Polich J, Lardon MT (1997) P300 and long-term physical exercise. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol 103:493–498

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schwenkreis P, El Tom S, Ragert P, Pleger B, Tegenthoff M, Dinse HR (2007) Assessment of sensorimotor cortical representation asymmetries and motor skills in violin players. Eur J Neurosci 26:3291–3302

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shahin A, Bosnyak DJ, Trainor LJ, Roberts LE (2003) Enhancement of neuroplastic P2 and N1c auditory evoked potentials in musicians. J Neurosci 23:5545–5552

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tanaka E, Inui K, Kida T, Miyazaki T, Takeshima Y, Kakigi R (2008) A transition from unimodal to multimodal activations in four sensory modalities in humans: an electrophysiological study. BMC Neurosci 9:116

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas NG, Mitchell D (1996) Somatosensory-evoked potentials in athletes. Med Sci Sports Exerc 28:473–481

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Trainor L, McFadden M, Hodgson L, Darragh L, Barlow J, Matsos L, Sonnadara R (2003) Changes in auditory cortex and the development of mismatch negativity between 2 and 6 months of age. Int J Psychophysiol 51:5–15

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Waberski TD, Gobbele R, Darvas F, Schmitz S, Buchner H (2002) Spatiotemporal imaging of electrical activity related to attention to somatosensory stimulation. Neuroimage 17:1347–1357

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yamashiro K, Inui K, Otsuru N, Kida T, Akatsuka K, Kakigi R (2008) Somatosensory off-response in humans: an ERP study. Exp Brain Res 190:207–213

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yamashiro K, Inui K, Otsuru N, Kida T, Kakigi R (2009) Somatosensory off-response in humans: an MEG study. Neuroimage 44:1363–1368

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yoshimura H, Mashiyama Y, Kaneyama K, Nagao T, Segami N (2007) Opening of shortcut circuits between visual and retrosplenial granular cortices of rats. NeuroReport 18:1315–1318

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a grant-in-aid for young scientists (B) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and a grant-in-aid for Advanced Research from Niigata University of Health and Welfare.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Koya Yamashiro.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Yamashiro, K., Sato, D., Onishi, H. et al. Skill-specific changes in somatosensory-evoked potentials and reaction times in baseball players. Exp Brain Res 225, 197–203 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-012-3361-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-012-3361-8

Keywords

Navigation