In a study that has nothing to do with the fact that a third Kill Bill movie is being made, British researchers gathered up a dozen experienced, right-handed black belts, and had them punch shit from just 5 centimeters away.While comparing punches from black belts (with an average of over 13 years of karate under their black belts) and novices, researchers at the University College London and Imperial College London detected structural differences in the white matter of parts of the brain called the cerebellum and the primary motor cortex, which allowed the black belts to out punch their non-martial artist counterparts.The study is the latest in a whole body of research that explores how the brain is physically changed by the hours of practice it takes to become an expert at something. A study from 2000 found that elite racquet players have asymmetries in their brains from favoring their dominant hand, while basketball players were able to call when shots would go in well before coaches or sports journalists possibly through observing body kinematics. Beyond athletes, musicians have volumetric differences in their gray matter, as well as structural ones in the white matter. As it turns out, an elegant punch is a lot like Beethoven from a certain point of view.The dots indicate infrared sensors. The strongest punches came from the perfect coordination of balance and getting the shoulder and wrist to hit peak velocity at the same time (via Oxford Journal, Cerebral Cortex)White matter helps connections in the nervous system and speeds communication between the gray matter regions of the brain, and coordination of the body. Researchers found that the white matter surrounding superior cerebellar peduncles and the primary motor cortex—areas of the brain that control voluntary motion—was structurally different for the black belts, hinting that even for microsecond-quick motions like a punch, there's a lot of higher brain work going on.Not that they needed to justify it to me, but the study claims the karate experts were chosen because it’s still not totally understood how they generate so much more power. The study states, "performance is not significantly determined by muscular strength" for karate punches. What they found was that stronger punches emerged when the peak shoulder and wrist velocities occur closer together in tight, refined coordination between the trunk and limb.The research, in addition to sounding cool, was also probably a welcome change for the researchers. "Most research on how the brain controls movement has been based on examining how diseases can impair motor skills," said Dr. Ed Roberts, from the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London, who led the study. Looking at an expert sheds light on how the brain changes as we learn, and will hopefully lead to more specific understandings of what all that white matter is doing up there anyway.The study did not specify whether the force generated from 5 centimeters away would be sufficient to punch one's way out of a grave, nor did it specify if greater force could be generated by listening to Ennio Morricone whilst attempting to do so.
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