Childhood exercise predicts response inhibition in later life via changes in brain connectivity and structure

Ishihara, Toru; Miyazaki, Atsushi; Tanaka, Hiroki; Fujii, Takayuki; Takahashi, Mitsuru; Nishina, Kuniyuki; Kanari, Kei; Takagishi, Haruto; Matsuda, Tetsuya

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118196

Cited by 12 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 90 publications

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“…The improvements on the physical fitness metrics collected suggest that the fitness component of the BBT intervention indeed led to a meaningful engagement of the cardiovascular system in these children. It is well known that exercise can lead to improvements in general health for children 29,[72][73][74] , and have a number of positive effects in children with issues of inattention 18,19,75 . Indeed, the link between cardiorespiratory fitness and cognitive control is well-established 76,77 , with cognitive control having been described as an 'explanatory mechanism' for the relationship between children's physical activity and real-world functions such as academic achievement 78 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing attention in children using an integrated cognitive-physical videogame: A pilot study

Anguera

Rowe²,

Volponi

et al. 2023

npj Digit. Med.

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Inattention can negatively impact several aspects of a child’s life, including at home and school. Cognitive and physical interventions are two promising non-pharmaceutical approaches used to enhance attention abilities, with combined approaches often being marketed to teachers, therapists, and parents typically without research validation. Here, we assessed the feasibility of incorporating an integrated, cognitive-physical, closed-loop video game (body-brain trainer or ‘BBT’) as an after-school program, and also evaluated if there were attention benefits following its use. Twenty-two children (7–12 years of age) with a range of attention abilities were recruited to participate in this proof of concept, single-arm, longitudinal study (24 sessions over 8 weeks, ~30 min/day). We interrogated attention abilities through a parent survey of their child’s behaviors, in addition to objective performance-based and neural measures of attention. Here we observed 95% compliance as well as, significant improvements on the parent-based reports of inattention and on cognitive tests and neural measures of attention that were comparable in scale to previous work. Exploratory measures of other cognitive control abilities and physical fitness also showed similar improvement, with exploratory evaluation of retained benefits on the primary attention-related outcomes being present 1-year later. Lastly, there was no correlation between the baseline parent-rated inattention score and the improvement on the primary task-based measures of attention, suggesting that intervention-based benefits were not solely attained by those who stood the most to gain. These pilot findings warrant future research to replicate and extend these findings.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing attention in children using an integrated cognitive-physical videogame: A pilot study

Anguera

Rowe²,

Volponi

et al. 2023

npj Digit. Med.

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“…The precuneus and posterior cingulate cortex comprise the functional core of the default mode network (Wang et al, 2006 ; Utevsky et al, 2014 ). Connectivity in the default mode network at rest has been reported to decrease with age (Damoiseaux et al, 2008 ; Ferreira and Busatto, 2013 ), and this suppression may be associated with a reduction in cognitive control (Dik et al, 2003 ; Ferro et al, 2016 ; Ishihara et al, 2021 ). In contrast, early-commenced motor training is associated with the strength of structural connectivity, including that in the default mode network, in middle-aged adults (Dik et al, 2003 ; Ferro et al, 2016 ; Ishihara et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Connectivity in the default mode network at rest has been reported to decrease with age (Damoiseaux et al, 2008 ; Ferreira and Busatto, 2013 ), and this suppression may be associated with a reduction in cognitive control (Dik et al, 2003 ; Ferro et al, 2016 ; Ishihara et al, 2021 ). In contrast, early-commenced motor training is associated with the strength of structural connectivity, including that in the default mode network, in middle-aged adults (Dik et al, 2003 ; Ferro et al, 2016 ; Ishihara et al, 2021 ). In our study, a positive change in the GMV of the precuneus was observed in athletes due to long-term sports experience.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further, the correlation was only observed between the current physical status of athletes and brain structure, and the study lacked information about the correlation between past athletic training and brain maintenance. Of note, previous studies have demonstrated that early-commenced physical training is associated with the strength of structural and functional connectivity in frontoparietal and default mode networks as well as related cognitive enhancement in middle-aged adults who have participated in regular sports training (Dik et al, 2003 ; Ferro et al, 2016 ; Ishihara et al, 2021 ). These findings suggest that early commencement of sports training may contribute to neural changes and related cognitive maintenance in later life and that the beneficial structural changes in the brains of athletes are affected not only by the amount of current physical activity (e.g., maximal oxygen consumption and current training time) but also by the length of experience, such as early-commenced and continued sports training.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Impact of Early-Commenced and Continued Sports Training on the Precuneus in Older Athletes

Yamashita

Suzuki

Kawagoe

et al. 2021

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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Intervention studies on sedentary older adults have demonstrated that commencing physical exercise at an older age has a positive effect on brain structure. Although this suggests that older athletes with lifelong sports training have larger gray matter volume (GMV) in some brain regions compared to age-matched non-athletes, evidence in the literature is scarce. Moreover, it remains unclear whether a larger GMV is associated with training intensity or period of training in life. To address these gaps in the literature, we compared regional brain GMV between 24 older athletes (mean age, 71.4 years; age at the commencement of sports training, 31.2 years, continuous sports training, 40.0 years; current training time, 7.9 h/week) and 24 age-matched non-athletes (mean age, 71.0 years). The period of sports training and the current training time of the athletes were assessed. Both groups were evaluated for physical activity intensity as well as cognitive and motor performance. Although no group differences were noted in cognitive and motor performance, athletes reported higher physical activity intensity than non-athletes. Whole-brain structural analysis revealed a significantly larger GMV in several brain regions in athletes. Notably, the GMV of the precuneus in athletes was positively correlated with earlier commencement of sports training and training duration but was negatively correlated with current training time. Our findings demonstrate that early-commenced and continued sports training predicts structural maintenance of the precuneus in old age. Our results also suggest that excessive training time in old age may have a negative impact on the GMV of the precuneus; thereby delineating how the precuneus is associated with lifelong sports training in older athletes.

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“…20 Thus, the association of regular exercise and cognitive performance could have stronger sensitivity in the earlier stages of the biological maturation process. 21 It is, therefore, of relevance to investigate whether tennis experience is associated with cognitive function when controlling for age and maturation factors, which are known to moderate this relationship.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the role of age and maturation on the association between tennis experience and cognitive function in junior beginner to intermediate-level tennis players

Turner

Ishihara

Beranek

et al. 2022

International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching

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Sport engagement, including tennis, and physical activity have been shown to have a positive influence on cognition in children. However, age has also been found to have a strong association with cognition in youth athletes. This study examines the threshold hypothesis by investigating the moderating role of age and maturation on the association between tennis experience and cognitive measures in Australian and German junior beginner to intermediate-level tennis players. The demographic information, which includes years of tennis experience, and anthropometrics (e.g. height and weight) was collected for 48 junior tennis players. A comprehensive cognitive testing battery was then completed to assess cognitive performance, with a principle component analysis used to determine an overall cognitive performance score. Multiple regression analyses were then performed to test the relationship between tennis experience and cognitive performance as well as the moderating effects of age and maturation. The results of this study indicate that the age and maturation rather than the exposure to tennis training are related to cognitive performance. Additionally, the positive relations of tennis experience to cognitive performance were stronger in younger participants, specifically those younger than 12 years old. Therefore, tennis may not provide a stimulus large enough for further cognitive improvement once players have developed a high level of cognitive performance. While age and biological maturity will largely dictate cognitive performance in adolescents, tennis experience may play some role in the cognitive performance of children (specifically <12 years of age).

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Childhood exercise predicts response inhibition in later life via changes in brain connectivity and structure

Cited by 12 publications

References 90 publications

Enhancing attention in children using an integrated cognitive-physical videogame: A pilot study

Enhancing attention in children using an integrated cognitive-physical videogame: A pilot study

Impact of Early-Commenced and Continued Sports Training on the Precuneus in Older Athletes

Investigating the role of age and maturation on the association between tennis experience and cognitive function in junior beginner to intermediate-level tennis players

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