Physical and motor fitness are both related to cognition in old age

The benefits of fitness for cognitive performance in healthy older adults have repeatedly been demonstrated. Animal studies, however, have revealed differential relationships between physical and motor fitness and brain metabolism. We therefore investigated whether for older humans different dimensions of fitness are differentially associated with cognitive performance and brain activation patterns. Seventy‐two participants (mean age 68.99 years, SD = 3.66; 52 females) completed four psychometric tests reflecting two primary abilities of higher cognitive functioning (executive control, perceptual speed) and a battery of fitness tests comprising two fitness dimensions (physical and motor fitness). We found that not only physical fitness indexed by cardiovascular fitness and muscular strength, but also motor fitness including movement speed, balance, motor coordination and flexibility showed a strong association with cognitive functioning. Additionally, functional brain imaging data revealed that physical and motor fitness were differentially related to cognitive processes. Results are discussed with regard to the compensation hypothesis and potential consequences for intervention work.

[1]  Charles H Hillman,et al.  Physical activity and cognitive function in a cross-section of younger and older community-dwelling individuals. , 2006, Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association.

[2]  Rainer Goebel,et al.  Analysis of functional image analysis contest (FIAC) data with brainvoyager QX: From single‐subject to cortically aligned group general linear model analysis and self‐organizing group independent component analysis , 2006, Human brain mapping.

[3]  H. Harman,et al.  Kit of factor-referenced cognitive tests , 1976 .

[4]  Wolfgang Prinz,et al.  Transformations in the Couplings Among Intellectual Abilities and Constituent Cognitive Processes Across the Life Span , 2004, Psychological science.

[5]  U. Lindenberger,et al.  Age-Related Changes in Task-Switching Components: The Role of Task Uncertainty , 2002, Brain and Cognition.

[6]  Pedro Ribeiro,et al.  Acute coordinative exercise improves attentional performance in adolescents , 2008, Neuroscience Letters.

[7]  P. Greenwood.  Functional plasticity in cognitive aging: review and hypothesis. , 2007, Neuropsychology.

[8]  Michael Bach,et al.  The Freiburg Visual Acuity Test-Variability unchanged by post-hoc re-analysis , 2007, Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology.

[9]  W. Greenough,et al.  Exercise and the Brain: Angiogenesis in the Adult Rat Cerebellum after Vigorous Physical Activity and Motor Skill Learning , 1992, Journal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism : official journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism.

[10]  E. Miller,et al.  An integrative theory of prefrontal cortex function. , 2001, Annual review of neuroscience.

[11]  P. Oja,et al.  Eurofit for Adults: Assessment of Health-related Fitness , 1995 .

[12]  Lynn Hasher,et al.  Working Memory, Comprehension, and Aging: A Review and a New View , 1988 .

[13]  Jennifer L. Etnier,et al.  The Influence of Physical Fitness and Exercise upon Cognitive Functioning: A Meta-Analysis , 1997 .

[14]  P. Baltes,et al.  Memorizing while walking: increase in dual-task costs from young adulthood to old age. , 2000, Psychology and aging.

[15]  C. Ekdahl,et al.  Standing balance in healthy subjects. Evaluation of a quantitative test battery on a force platform. , 1989, Scandinavian journal of rehabilitation medicine.

[16]  B. Hommel,et al.  Visual search across the life span. , 2004, Developmental psychology.

[17]  Arthur F. Kramer,et al.  Capitalizing on cortical plasticity: influence of physical activity on cognition and brain function , 2007, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[18]  A F Kramer,et al.  Task coordination and aging: explorations of executive control processes in the task switching paradigm. , 1999, Acta psychologica.

[19]  A. H. Ismail,et al.  Intellectual differences of adult men related to age and physical fitness before and after an exercise program. , 1980, Journal of gerontology.

[20]  W. Greenough,et al.  Glial hypertrophy is associated with synaptogenesis following motor‐skill learning, but not with angiogenesis following exercise , 1994, Glia.

[21]  Sverker Sikström,et al.  Integrative neurocomputational perspectives on cognitive aging, neuromodulation, and representation , 2002, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.

[22]  P. Baltes,et al.  Intellectual functioning in old and very old age: cross-sectional results from the Berlin Aging Study. , 1997, Psychology and aging.

[23]  E. Donchin,et al.  Optimizing the use of information: strategic control of activation of responses. , 1992, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[24]  Jonathan D. Cohen,et al.  Improved Assessment of Significant Activation in Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI): Use of a Cluster‐Size Threshold , 1995, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[25]  S. Ferber,et al.  Spatial awareness is a function of the temporal not the posterior parietal lobe , 2001, Nature.

[26]  M. Lassonde,et al.  Deficits in executive functions and motor coordination in children with frontal lobe epilepsy , 2002, Neuropsychologia.

[27]  E. Crone,et al.  Dissociation of response conflict, attentional selection, and expectancy with functional magnetic resonance imaging. , 2000, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[28]  Bogdan Draganski,et al.  Training-induced structural changes in the adult human brain , 2008, Behavioural Brain Research.

[29]  W. Greenough,et al.  Learning causes synaptogenesis, whereas motor activity causes angiogenesis, in cerebellar cortex of adult rats. , 1990, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[30]  J. Vogel,et al.  Effect of carbon monoxide on oxygen transport during exercise. , 1972, Journal of applied physiology.

[31]  B. G. Rule,et al.  Adult age differences in working memory. , 1989, Psychology and aging.

[32]  R. Emmerson,et al.  Physical Activity, Age, and Cognitive- Neuropsychological Function , 1994 .

[33]  P. Reuter-Lorenz,et al.  Neurocognitive Aging and the Compensation Hypothesis , 2008 .

[34]  C. Jessie Jones,et al.  Development and Validation of a Functional Fitness Test for Community-Residing Older Adults , 1999 .

[35]  Ricky L. Swalm,et al.  A Pilot Study of a Possible Effect from a Motor Task on Reading Performance , 2007, Perceptual and motor skills.

[36]  David L. Strayer,et al.  Aging and inhibition: beyond a unitary view of inhibitory processing in attention. , 1994, Psychology and aging.

[37]  J. Tiffin,et al.  The Purdue pegboard; norms and studies of reliability and validity. , 1948, The Journal of applied psychology.

[38]  J. Planinšec.  Relations between the Motor and Cognitive Dimensions of Preschool Girls and Boys , 2002, Perceptual and motor skills.

[39]  Janos Porszasz,et al.  A treadmill ramp protocol using simultaneous changes in speed and grade. , 2003, Medicine and science in sports and exercise.

[40]  Claudia Voelcker-Rehage,et al.  Age-related Differences in Working Memory and Force Control under Dual-task Conditions , 2006, Neuropsychology, development, and cognition. Section B, Aging, neuropsychology and cognition.

[41]  C. Gualtieri,et al.  A computerized test battery sensitive to mild and severe brain injury. , 2008, Medscape journal of medicine.

[42]  J. Kleim,et al.  Selective Synaptic Plasticity within the Cerebellar Cortex Following Complex Motor Skill Learning , 1998, Neurobiology of Learning and Memory.

[43]  Paige E. Scalf,et al.  Cardiovascular fitness, cortical plasticity, and aging. , 2004, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[44]  P. Panek,et al.  Locus of the age-Stroop interference relationship. , 1984 .

[45]  A. Kramer,et al.  Be smart, exercise your heart: exercise effects on brain and cognition , 2008, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.