Resting-state fMRI data analysis
After preprocessing, a group-level functional connectivity analysis was carried out in FSL’s melodic command-line tool with a dimensionality constraint of 11 group-level components. The constraint of 11 components was selected after multiple cross-correlation analyses between the spatial maps of several different ICA constraints ranging from 5 to 15 components with the BrainMap 10-ICA templateStatistical inference was determined with a four-contrast general linear model (GLM) that compared pre- and post-testing rs-fMRI scans for the exercise group (pre > post, and post > pre), and the control group (pre > post, and post > pre). Non-parametric permutation testing with 5000 permutations for each contrast was carried out using Permutation Analysis of Linear Models (PALM) with family-wise-error-rate corrected contrasts and cluster-extent based thresholding with a z-score of 3.1