Brain scans have revealed distinctive features in the brain structure of karate experts that are associated with how well they performed in a test of punching ability.

Researchers from Imperial College London and UCL looked for differences in brain structure between 12 karate practitioners with a black belt rank and an average of 13.8 years’ karate experience, and 12 people of similar age who exercised regularly but did not have any martial arts experience.

Dr Ed Roberts, from the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London, who led the study, explained: "The karate black belts were able to repeatedly coordinate their punching action with a level of coordination that novices can’t produce. We think that ability might be related to fine-tuning of neural connections in the cerebellum, allowing them to synchronise their arm and trunk movements very accurately."

The scans used in this study, called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), detected structural differences in the white matter of parts of the brain called the cerebellum and the primary motor cortex, which are known to be involved in controlling movement. The differences measured by DTI in the cerebellum correlated with the synchronicity of the subjects’ wrist and shoulder movements when punching.

The DTI signal also correlated with the age at which karate experts began training and their total experience of the discipline. These findings suggest that the structural differences in the brain are related to the black belts’ punching ability.

(Image credit: Adam J. Merton on Flickr)