Hemispheric lateralization in older adults who habitually play darts: a cross-sectional study using functional near-infrared spectroscopy

Abstract

Exercise training integrating physical and cognitive activities is gaining attention because of its potential benefits for brain health. This study focuses on exercise training using a dart game called Wellness Darts. Wellness Darts is a sport involving throwing darts and walking to pull them out of the board, memorizing the score, and subtracting it from the total score, thus allowing the performance of two tasks simultaneously: exercise and calculation. It is expected to maintain and improve cognitive function, and whether the continual dart training affects brain function is of great interest. Before conducting the longitudinal study revealing its effect on brain function, we aimed to cross-sectionally confirm the difference in hemispheric lateralization between expert and non-expert players. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to measure brain activity for three groups: an expert older group who practiced darts continually, a non-expert older control group, and a non-expert younger control group. Their brain activity patterns were quantified by lateralization index (LI) and compared between groups. The results showed that the younger and the expert older groups had significantly higher LI values than the non-expert older group and did not differ between the expert older and the younger groups. Our results suggest that the Wellness Darts possibly promote hemispheric lateralization.