ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Hum. Neurosci.
Sec. Cognitive Neuroscience
Volume 19 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2025.1672307
This article is part of the Research TopicNeuroscience of learning: How the brain adapts and changesView all articles
Flight training and alterations in cortical characteristics
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
- 2The Fourth People's Hospital of Chengdu, Chengdu, China
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Background: Piloting is a highly specialized profession. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of longitudinal flight training on the cortical characteristics of the brain. Methods: Magnetic resonance imaging of 25 flight cadets and 24 controls was performed twice over a 2-year period. The gray matter thickness, cortical surface area and sulcal depth of the two groups were compared. The relationships between altered cortical characteristics and flight training days were investigated through correlation analysis. Results: The results indicated that flight training was associated with certain parameters of brain structure. Specifically, in the left rostral anterior cingulate area, the flight group displayed prominent gyri, whereas the control group exhibited sulci. The structural changes in these two groups followed completely opposite trends. Conclusion: In conclusion, the affected areas are primarily concentrated in brain regions associated with multisensory integration and multitasking, which may reflect neural adaptations induced by flight training.
Keywords: Cortical characteristics, Flight cadets, Flight training, Gray matter thickness, Cortical surface area, Sulcal Depth
Received: 24 Jul 2025; Accepted: 01 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Chen, Chu, Wang, Tan, Duan and Luo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xi Chen, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
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