Balance training improves memory and spatial cognition in healthy adults

Abstract

Physical exercise has been shown to improve cognitive functions. However, it is still unknown which type of exercise affects cognition. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that a demanding balance training program improves memory and spatial cognition. Forty healthy participants aged 19–65 years were randomly assigned to either a balance or relaxation training intervention. Each group exercised twice a week for a total of 12 weeks. Pre- and posttests assessed balance performance, cardiorespiratory fitness, memory, spatial cognition, and executive functions. Only the balance group significantly increased in balance performance from pre- to posttest, while cardiorespiratory fitness remained unchanged in both groups. Moreover, the balance group significantly improved in memory and spatial cognition. Effects on executive functions were not observed. These results suggest that balance training is capable of improving particularly memory and spatial cognition. Therefore, an increase in cardiorespiratory fitness does not seem to be necessary to induce beneficial effects of physical exercise on cognition. It might be speculated that stimulating the vestibular system during balance training induces changes of the hippocampus and parietal cortex possibly via direct pathways between the vestibular system and these brain regions.

Physical Exercise During the Morning School‐Break Improves Basic Cognitive Functions

“…Budde, Voelcker‐Rehage, Pietrabyk‐Kendizorra, Ribeiro, and Tidow (), for example, found better attentional performance/concentration ability after coordinative exercises as compared to normal sport lessons. In a similar vein, Rogge et al () found specific improvements in memory and spatial cognition as a result of a comprehensive balance training, while no effects on executive functions (Stroop task) were observed.…”

“…Interestingly, intervention effects were only found regarding aerobic performance (6‐min running test), and not with respect to measures involving coordinative abilities (e.g., balancing backwards, jumping sideways). Studies reporting beneficial effects on visuo‐coordinative performance measures typically utilized longer intervention periods (e.g., Graf et al, : 20 months; Rogge et al, : 12 weeks). Thus, while the employed motor coordinative intervention was obviously effective in improving some cardiovascular parameters or general motor fitness, and, as a result, running performance in the 6‐min running test, it was probably too short to unfold beneficial effects also on coordinative performance measures, and thus also on more complex creative performance measures.…”

“…Given that motor and visuo‐coordinative exercises require manifold neurocognitive processes, putatively acting as “enriched environment” (Voelcker‐Rehage & Niemann, ; see also Kattenstroth, Kolankowska, Kalisch, & Dinse, ), we tested whether the regular engagement in such a training would, along with performance gains in concentration ability (Budde et al, ), also affect higher level cognitive processes such as creative potential especially in the figural domain, which requires the processing of visual–spatial information (cf. Rogge et al, ). This study hence also addresses the important research question of whether the effects of physical activity exercises on cognitive functions are only apparent with respect to rather elementary cognitive processes such as attention or concentration ability, or evident regarding more complex facets of cognition as well.…”

Influence of Acute Physical Exercise on Cognitive and Motor Behavior in an Experimental Model of Alzheimer's Disease

“…Furthermore, this group presented lower latency values after the induction of AD, which may have occurred because of the influence of external environmental factors such as temperature, noise, or ambient light. 15 The study by Rogge et al 16 demonstrated that 12 weeks of balance training in healthy adults had positive effects on spatial memory and cognition; however, it is still not clear what kind of exercise has better effects on cognition even in healthy individuals.…”

Poststroke cognitive impairment and the possibility of its nonpharmacological treatment with vestibular stimulation based on biological feedback to supporting reaction

“…В связи с положительным влиянием на память, внимание, пространственное восприятие, ряд авторов [23,24], изу чив стимуляцию вестибулярной системы во время физических упражнений по тренировке равновесия и влияние ее на когнитивные функции, среди большого разнообразия так называемых поведенческих вмешательств уделяют особое внимание физическим упражнениям с использованием именно вестибулярной и координационной подготовки. Положительную роль вестибулярной реабилитации в восстановлении когнитивных функций, в том числе зрительно-пространственной ориентации, внимания и исполнительных функций у пациентов с трудноизлечимым головокружением, подтверждают данные одной из недавно опубликованных работ [25], в которой были выявлены корреляционные связи между улучшениями когнитивной функции и переменными, связанными с головокружением и эмоциональным статусом.…”