“…However, the control group also exhibited decreases in depression and anxiety. Albinet et al (2016) found similar results in a sample of 36 older adults who either participated in aerobic exercise or stretching control intervention for 21 weeks (Albinet et al, 2016). While both groups showed improvement in self-reported depressive symptomology, only the exercise group showed neurocognitive improvements.…”
Section: Level 3: Behavioral and Socioemotional Mechanismsmentioning
Physical activity (PA) is known to maintain and improve neurocognitive health. However, there is still a poor understanding of the mechanisms by which PA exerts its effects on the brain and cognition in humans. Many of the most widely discussed mechanisms of PA are molecular and cellular and arise from animal models. While information about basic cellular and molecular mechanisms is an important foundation from which to build our understanding of how PA promotes cognitive health in humans, there are other pathways that could play a role in this relationship. For example, PA-induced changes to cellular and molecular pathways likely initiate changes to macroscopic properties of the brain and/or to behavior that in turn influence cognition. The present review uses a more macroscopic lens to identify potential brain and behavioral/socioemotional mediators of the association between PA and cognitive function. We first summarize what is known regarding cellular and molecular mechanisms, and then devote the remainder of the review to discussing evidence for brain systems and behavioral/socioemotional pathways by which PA influences cognition. It is our hope that discussing mechanisms at multiple levels of analysis will stimulate the field to examine both brain and behavioral mediators. Doing so is important, as it could lead to a more complete characterization of the processes by which PA influences neurocognitive function, as well as a greater variety of targets for modifying neurocognitive function in clinical contexts.
“…However, the control group also exhibited decreases in depression and anxiety. Albinet et al (2016) found similar results in a sample of 36 older adults who either participated in aerobic exercise or stretching control intervention for 21 weeks (Albinet et al, 2016). While both groups showed improvement in self-reported depressive symptomology, only the exercise group showed neurocognitive improvements.…”
Section: Level 3: Behavioral and Socioemotional Mechanismsmentioning
Physical activity (PA) is known to maintain and improve neurocognitive health. However, there is still a poor understanding of the mechanisms by which PA exerts its effects on the brain and cognition in humans. Many of the most widely discussed mechanisms of PA are molecular and cellular and arise from animal models. While information about basic cellular and molecular mechanisms is an important foundation from which to build our understanding of how PA promotes cognitive health in humans, there are other pathways that could play a role in this relationship. For example, PA-induced changes to cellular and molecular pathways likely initiate changes to macroscopic properties of the brain and/or to behavior that in turn influence cognition. The present review uses a more macroscopic lens to identify potential brain and behavioral/socioemotional mediators of the association between PA and cognitive function. We first summarize what is known regarding cellular and molecular mechanisms, and then devote the remainder of the review to discussing evidence for brain systems and behavioral/socioemotional pathways by which PA influences cognition. It is our hope that discussing mechanisms at multiple levels of analysis will stimulate the field to examine both brain and behavioral mediators. Doing so is important, as it could lead to a more complete characterization of the processes by which PA influences neurocognitive function, as well as a greater variety of targets for modifying neurocognitive function in clinical contexts.
“…Finally, the remaining studies were again screened by title and abstract to confirm that WMP was an outcome being measured, and when necessary, a full-text screen was required if both the title and abstract were ambiguous in outcome measurements (Additional file 4). In total, 15 studies were included for analysis [46, 47, 49–61]. Studies were excluded for several reasons, such as WMP referenced without actually being a measurement outcome (often times in the introduction or discussion); a sample population was impaired physically, cognitively, or both; the PA intervention was dual-task or not physical, i.e., video game; control group contained PA elements, i.e., passive cycling.Fig.…”
BackgroundUnderstanding how physical activity (PA) influences cognitive function in populations with cognitive impairments, such as dementia, is an increasingly studied topic yielding numerous published systematic reviews. In contrast, however, there appears to be less interest in examining associations between PA and cognition in cognitively healthy individuals. Therefore, the objective of this review was to evaluate and synthesize randomized controlled trial (RCT) studies that investigated the effects of both chronic and acute PA on working memory performance (WMP) in physically and cognitively healthy individuals.MethodsFollowing the preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines, a systematic review of studies published between August 2009 and December 2016 was performed on RCTs investigating the effects of chronic and acute PA on WMP with healthy participants as the sample populations. Searches were conducted in Annual Reviews, ProQuest, PsycARTICLES, PsycINFO, PubMed, and Web of Science. Main inclusion criteria stipulated (1) healthy sample populations, (2) PA interventions, (3) WMP as an outcome, and (4) RCT designs. Descriptive statistics included cohort and intervention characteristics and a risk of bias assessment. Analytical statistics included meta-analyses and moderation analyses.ResultsFrom 7345 non-duplicates, 15 studies (eight chronic PA and seven acute PA studies) met the inclusion criteria and were evaluated. Overall, there was noticeable variance between both cohort and intervention characteristics. Sample populations ranged from primary school children to retirement community members with PA ranging from cycling to yoga. The majority of studies were characterized by “low” or “unclear” risk of selection, performance, detection, attrition, reporting, or other biases. Meta-analysis of chronic PA revealed a significant, small effect size while analysis of acute PA revealed a non-significant, trivial result. Age and intensity were significant moderators while allocation concealment, blinding, and intervention length were not.ConclusionsChronic PA can significantly improve WMP while acute PA cannot. The limiting factors for acute PA studies point to the diversity of working memory instruments utilized, unequal sample sizes between studies, and the sample age groups. Large-scale, high-quality RCTs are needed in order to provide generalizable and more powerful analysis between PA and WMP in a systematic approach.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13643-017-0514-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
“…Electrophysiological and neuroimaging studies have provided evidence that cardiorespiratory fitness is positively correlated with brain function, particularly in brain regions associated with the CAN, which has shown increased neuroplasticity after physical exercise interventions, improving both cardiovascular and cognitive control (Gomez-Pinilla and Hillman, 2013). However, relatively few studies have focused on the relationship between physical fitness and effects on NVI biomarkers such as HRV, particularly in the elderly (see Albinet et al, 2010Albinet et al, , 2016Dupuy et al, 2018). While Alderman and Olson (2014) demonstrated the role of physical fitness in improving autonomic and neurocognitive health in young adults, these authors failed to show HRV-mediated influences between cardiorespiratory fitness and cognitive performance, suggesting that other mediators may be more relevant in this population, which is at the apex of cognitive performance and with not much individual difference in cardiorespiratory fitness, compared to the elderly.…”
The association between physical fitness and cognitive performance has been widely investigated in the literature. However, the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying this relationship are not yet clear. Here, we aim to evaluate the interactions between executive function measures, heart rate variability (HRV), and physical fitness in the context of the neurovisceral integration (NVI) theory. Twenty-eight healthy elderly subjects (>60 years) were submitted to evaluation of executive performance with three computerized tests: the N-back test measured working memory capacity, the Stroop Color test evaluated inhibitory control and selective attention, and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) evaluated abstract reasoning and cognitive flexibility. We also used the Physical Testing Battery for the Elderly to measure aerobic capacity, dynamic balance, upper body flexibility, and handgrip strength. Our results confirm the relationship between executive function and physical fitness, particularly between working memory, cardiorespiratory fitness, and dynamic balance. We also demonstrate an association between executive performance and HRV in older people, corroborating previous results from other groups obtained in young adults. However, our regression models did not indicate that HRV mediates the relationship between cognition and physical fitness in the elderly, suggesting that age-related degeneration of autonomic control can affect aspects of NVI in this population.
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