eprintid: 2880
rev_number: 7
eprint_status: archive
userid: 72
dir: disk0/00/00/28/80
datestamp: 2015-11-10 13:06:53
lastmod: 2016-09-13 09:47:03
status_changed: 2015-11-10 13:06:53
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Bernardi, Giulio
creators_name: Ricciardi, Emiliano
creators_name: Sani, Lorenzo
creators_name: Gaglianese, Anna
creators_name: Papasogli, Alessandra
creators_name: Ceccarelli, Riccardo
creators_name: Franzoni, Ferdinando
creators_name: Galetta, Fabio
creators_name: Santoro, Gino
creators_name: Goebel, Rainer
creators_name: Pietrini, Pietro
creators_id: 
creators_id: emiliano.ricciardi@imtlucca.it
creators_id: 
creators_id: 
creators_id: 
creators_id: 
creators_id: 
creators_id: 
creators_id: 
creators_id: 
creators_id: pietro.pietrini@imtlucca.it
title: How skill expertise shapes the brain functional architecture: an fMRI study of visuo-spatial and motor processing in professional racing-car and naïve drivers
ispublished: pub
subjects: RC0321
divisions: CSA
full_text_status: public
abstract: The present study was designed to investigate the brain functional architecture that subserves visuo-spatial and motor processing in highly skilled individuals. By using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we measured brain activity while eleven Formula racing-car drivers and eleven ‘naïve’ volunteers performed a motor reaction and a visuo-spatial task. Tasks were set at a relatively low level of difficulty such to ensure a similar performance in the two groups and thus avoid any potential confounding effects on brain activity due to discrepancies in task execution. The brain functional organization was analyzed in terms of regional brain response, inter-regional interactions and blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal variability. While performance levels were equal in the two groups, as compared to naïve drivers, professional drivers showed a smaller volume recruitment of task-related regions, stronger connections among task-related areas, and an increased information integration as reflected by a higher signal temporal variability. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that, as compared to naïve subjects, the brain functional architecture sustaining visuo-motor processing in professional racing-car drivers, trained to perform at the highest levels under extremely demanding conditions, undergoes both ‘quantitative’ and ‘qualitative’ modifications that are evident even when the brain is engaged in relatively simple, non-demanding tasks. These results provide novel evidence in favor of an increased ‘neural efficiency’ in the brain of highly skilled individuals.
date: 2013-10-18
date_type: published
publication: PloS One
volume: 8
number: 10
publisher: Public Library of Science
id_number: 10.1371/journal.pone.0077764
refereed: TRUE
issn: 1932-6203
official_url: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0077764
related_url_url: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0077764
related_url_type: pub
citation:   Bernardi, Giulio and Ricciardi, Emiliano and Sani, Lorenzo and Gaglianese, Anna and Papasogli, Alessandra and Ceccarelli, Riccardo and Franzoni, Ferdinando and Galetta, Fabio and Santoro, Gino and Goebel, Rainer and Pietrini, Pietro  How skill expertise shapes the brain functional architecture: an fMRI study of visuo-spatial and motor processing in professional racing-car and naïve drivers.  PloS One, 8 (10).   ISSN 1932-6203      (2013)  
document_url: http://eprints.imtlucca.it/2880/1/journal.pone.0077764.pdf