The development of mindfulness in martial art kendo players: AfMRI analysis of the triple network

Kendo is a martial art that embodies the Zen ideal and practices with bamboo swords, it shares similarities with fencing. Mindfulness is a mental state akin to Zen where one can observe sensations, feelings and thoughts as they happen while remaining impartial to them. Using fMRI of the auditory oddball task we investigated network connectivity based on Menon’s triple network theory and hypothesized that kendo players (KPs) more so than non-kendo players (NKPs) can efficiently switch brain networks from resting to task state, i.e. Default mode network (DMN) to Central executive network (CEN) via Salience network (SN). Preprocessed fMRI and structural MRI data were processed using CONN (ver.18b) with SPM12. A two-tailed t-test was applied for group comparisons of demographic data, average RT to target stimuli in odd, and measures of exercise. We initially performed an ANCOVA with groups (KPs vs. NKPs) as the independent variable, functional connectivity as dependent variable, and our covariates were age, metabolic equivalent of task (METs) and Oddball reaction times (OddballRTs). Differences were deemed significant if FDR p-values = < 0.05. KPs had significantly shorter OddballRTs compared to NKPs, with no difference in error rate. Quicker processing but equal task performance suggests better performances in KPs. Overall, moderate positive correlation between all areas of the triple network were found and the ANCOVAs showed a significant difference between the two groups for task FCs, particularly in the SN-CEN and CEN-DMN. During ROI-ROI rs-fMRI, CONN revealed that KPs exhibited significantly lower FC between chosen DMN and CEN ROIs. During task, only higher FCs between chosen DMN-SN plus SN-CEN were found in KPs, and lower CEN-DMN FCs were also present. Higher DMN-SN/SN-CEN network connectivity indicates sharpened network activity in KPs presumably because of habitual training. SN activity would indicate better focus in KPs, showing consistency with our previous analyses. In the future, mindfulness production via sport may be clinically applicable to a range of health promoting programs.