Impact of cognitive reserve on dance intervention-induced changes in brain plasticity

Abstract

Dance is a complex sensorimotor activity with positive effects on physical fitness, cognition, and brain plasticity in the aging population. We explored whether individual levels of cognitive reserve (CR) proxied by education moderate dance intervention (DI)-induced plasticity assessed by resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) changes of the sensorimotor network (SMN), and between the dorsal attention network (DAN) and anterior default mode network (aDMN). Our cohort consisted of 99 subjects, randomly assigned to either a DI group who underwent a 6-month intervention (n = 49, Mage = 69.02 ± 5.40) or a control group (n = 50, Mage = 69.37 ± 6.10). Moderation analyses revealed that CR moderated DI-induced increases of the SMN rs-FC with significant changes observed in participants with ≥ 13 years of education (b = .05, t(64) = 3.20, p < .001). Only DI alone was a significant predictor of the DAN-aDMN crosstalk change (b = .06, t(64) = 2.16, p = .03). The rs-FC increases in the SMN were correlated with an improved physical fitness measure, and changes in the DAN-aDMN connectivity were linked to better performance on a cognitive task. Consistent with the passive CR hypothesis, we observed that CR correlated only with baseline behavioral scores, not their change.

Topological reorganization of brain network might contribute to the resilience of cognitive functioning in mildly disabled relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis

“…They seem closely associated with proxies of the cognitive reserve such as higher education, occupational attainment or intelligence quotient (IQ) etc. (Cabeza et al, 2018; Franzmeier et al, 2017, 2018; Mitterová et al, 2021; Shalev et al, 2020). Here, we found a progressive loss of hub functional connectivity assessed by MEG in DMN, somatomotor and frontoparietal networks as well as in dorsal and ventral attention over 2 years in pwMS.…”