Can Increased Physical Activity Improve the Thinking Ability?

In a recent article by Christopher Bergland (Twitter @ckbergland) where he focused on the ‘up brain-down brain’ model (developed by him and his father). He has used information from two recently published papers and some anecdotal evidence to support the model.

The up-brain, according to the model is the cerebrum and the down-brain is the cerebellum. In this model, the cerebrum and cerebellum are interconnected for their functions; may it be motor function or cognition. Known as a super 8 loop concept, the loop connects the flow of information between the two cerebral hemispheres and the two cerebellar hemispheres in an 8 shape, whenever an action or thought occurs (Figure).

He talks about how his father taught him to play tennis like two famous sportsmen (Ashland Borg). When coaching Christopher to play like Borg, he asked him to take a deep diaphragmatic inhalation followed by a long, slow exhale before every service, to make the Vagus nerve activate the parasympathetic response of the nervous system. In the other play style, he was taught to act before thinking, utilizing the role of the cerebellum in bottom-up processing(cerebellum to cerebrum); as it coordinates muscle movements, thus focusing on the fluidity of the motor coordination.

In his up brain-down brain model, there is a hypothetical crisscross of functional connectivity, i.e., the left cerebrum connects with the right cerebellum and the left cerebrum connects with the right cerebellum which is the key to creating superfluidity in sports.

Superfluidity here referring to a “frictionless” state of the brain, in which the flow of information between the cerebrum and the cerebellum markedly increases, due to the absence of friction/stops, by means of which extensive motor activity might support cognitive and thinking processes.

A conversation with a friend helped him in visualizing the super 8 models. He also gives an example of a piece by Joyce Carol Oates in the New York Times’ arts section (1999), where she explains how some prose captures the “fluidity of movement” and how, throughout her writing career, daily jogs helped her “maintain a consistent, fluid voice” when writing a novel.

Using a recent paper by Li et al-in which the researchers found out that right-handed people who tend to have most of their language functions seated in the left cerebral hemisphere have microzones in the right cerebellar hemisphere coordinate language tasks- he emphasizes the validity of his super 8 models. The McAfee paper explains how the cerebellum coordinates and optimizes cerebral-cortical communication during cognitive processes much like it optimizes motor coordination(this again shows the existence of the crisscross connectivity of the super 8 models).

He also states the implications of Jeremy Schmahmann’sDysmetria of Thought hypothesis, who wrote a paper describing Cerebellar Cognitive Affective Syndrome, which speculated that the cerebellum was involved in non-motor functions such as cognition.

Although more research might be needed to better understand how cerebro-cerebellar connectivity coordinates fluid thinking, recent evidence might be indicative of a promising future, where such research might lead to a breakthrough in superfluidity.

Reviewer: Dr. Jitendra Kumar Sinha

References:

1. Yanyan Li, Lihao Yang, Lihua Li, Yuanjun Xi, Peng Fang. (2022) “The Resting-State Cerebro-Cerebellar Function Connectivity and Associations With Verbal Working Memory Performance.” Behavioral Brain Research  DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2021.113586

2. Samuel S. McAfee, Yu Liu, Roy V. Sillitoe, and Detlef H. Heck. (2022) “Cerebellar Coordination of Neuronal Communication in Cerebral Cortex.” Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2021.781527

3. Jeremy D. Schmahmann. (1998) “Dysmetria of Thought: Clinical Consequences of Cerebellar Dysfunction on Cognition and Affect.” Trends in Cognitive Sciences (First published: September 01, 1998) DOI: 10.1016/S1364-6613(98)01218-2

4. Jeremy D. Schmahmann and Janet C. Sherman.(1998) “The Cerebellar Cognitive Affective Syndrome.” Brain: A Journal of Neurology DOI: 10.1093/brain/121.4.561

5. Christopher Bergland. (2022)“The Neuroscience of Superfluid Thinking: The cerebellum may coordinate thoughts much like it coordinates fluid movements.” Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/202201/the-neuroscience-superfluid-thinking