Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Attentional Control in the Aging Brain

Abstract

A growing body of literature provides evidence for the prophylactic influence of cardiorespiratory fitness on cognitive decline in older adults. This study examined the association between cardiorespiratory fitness and recruitment of the neural circuits involved in an attentional control task in a group of healthy older adults. Employing a version of the Stroop task, we examined whether higher levels of cardiorespiratory fitness were associated with an increase in activation in cortical regions responsible for imposing attentional control along with an up-regulation of activity in sensory brain regions that process task-relevant representations. Higher fitness levels were associated with better behavioral performance and an increase in the recruitment of prefrontal and parietal cortices in the most challenging condition, thus providing evidence that cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with an increase in the recruitment of the anterior processing regions. There was a top-down modulation of extrastriate visual areas that process both task-relevant and task-irrelevant attributes relative to the baseline. However, fitness was not associated with differential activation in the posterior processing regions, suggesting that fitness enhances attentional function by primarily influencing the neural circuitry of anterior cortical regions. This study provides novel evidence of a differential association of fitness with anterior and posterior brain regions, shedding further light onto the neural changes accompanying cardiorespiratory fitness.

The relationship between exercise intensity, cerebral oxygenation and cognitive performance in young adults

“…Our findings are in line with Dupuy et al (2015), who found that higher-fit individuals who demonstrate better cardiorespiratory functions show faster reaction times and greater cerebral oxygenation. Similarly, our results align with Prakash et al (2011), who reported a greater blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal increases in the prefrontal cortex during the Executive Stroop conditions for individuals who demonstrated a higher cardiorespiratory function. Although the purpose of this study was not to observe the effects of fitness on cognition and cerebral oxygenation, our results are in accordance with these findings since we found, regardless of exercise intensity, a higher cerebral oxygenation during the Executive condition of the stroop task.…”

Long-term habitual physical activity is associated with lower distractibility in a Stroop interference task in aging: Behavioral and ERP evidence

“…This indicates that the higher the self-reported activity and objectively measured physical fitness, the lower the interference. This finding is in keeping with previous research (Colcombe & Kramer, 2003;Colcombe et al, 2004;Dustman et al, 1984;Dustman et al, 1990;Liu-Ambrose et al, 2010;Prakash et al, 2011;van Boxtel et al, 1997;Voelcker-Rehage & Niemann, 2013). Moreover, we found an inverse relationship between the ISDs in incompatible trials of the PC-based Stroop test and the level of physical power during ergometry.…”

“…Deficits in inhibition lead to increased conflict between competing stimuli or response representations (Lustig, Hasher, & Tonev, 2001). Age-related inhibitory deficits can be in part compensated by the recruitment of additional cognitive resources in frontal brain regions to preserve a sufficient level of behavioral performance (Berchicci, Lucci, Pesce, Spinelli, & Di Russo, 2012;Park & Reuter-Lorenz, 2009;Prakash et al, 2011).…”

Beyond the “Bereitschaftspotential”: Action preparation behind cognitive functions

“…Using fMRI and various tasks such as Ericksen flanker task (Colcombe et al, 2004), modified Stroop task (Prakash et al, 2011), processing speed task (Rosano et al, 2010), and semantic memory retrieval (Smith et al, 2011) positive associations between cardiorespiratory fitness and brain functions were reported. Few intervention studies examined the impact of aerobic exercise training on brain function in older adults (Voelcker-Rehae et al, 2011); the authors 37 suggested that the decreased prefrontal activation in the aerobic training group reflected a reduced need for compensation or increased cognitive control.…”