“The Shot” [1]: 05/07/1989. NBA playoffs, Chicago Bulls vs. Cleveland Cavaliers. With three seconds left to play, Michael Jordan has the chance to decide the series for Chicago with just one shot. He is pressed by two players, receives the ball, changes direction, jumps up, and adjusts his shot perfectly during the jump. The epitome of the optimized brain of perhaps the best basketball player of all time.

If you frequently observe such flexible and targeted professional basketball players’ movements, you might sometimes catch yourself asking: How does the brain manage to adapt such incredibly fast movements so dynamically to the game? While the answer is simple, the underlying process is highly complex: Neuroscience has found out that some regions of the brain differ between basketball players and non-players. These differences are based on continuous intensive training, which has induced neuroplastic processes [2] over many years. These processes cause changes in brain activity and structure. For example, it has been observed that the striatum (located in the center of the brain) is more pronounced in professional players compared to non-athletes [3]. The striatum is a brain region responsible for motor processes, motor learning, and action planning. The research demonstrated that structural changes in the brain accompany years of training. In short: In order to play at the top, your brain must have undergone structural adjustments through many years of training.