Physical Activity Improves Verbal and Spatial Memory in Older Adults with Probable Mild Cognitive Impairment: A 6-Month Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

We report secondary findings from a randomized controlled trial on the effects of exercise on memory in older adults with probable MCI. We randomized 86 women aged 70–80 years with subjective memory complaints into one of three groups: resistance training, aerobic training, or balance and tone (control). All participants exercised twice per week for six months. We measured verbal memory and learning using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) and spatial memory using a computerized test, before and after trial completion. We found that the aerobic training group remembered significantly more items in the loss after interference condition of the RAVLT compared with the control group after six months of training. In addition, both experimental groups showed improved spatial memory performance in the most difficult condition where they were required to memorize the spatial location of three items, compared with the control group. Lastly, we found a significant correlation between spatial memory performance and overall physical capacity after intervention in the aerobic training group. Taken together, our results provide support for the prevailing notion that exercise can positively impact cognitive functioning and may represent an effective strategy to improve memory in those who have begun to experience cognitive decline.

Aerobic exercise and vascular cognitive impairment

“…The observed effects on ADAS-Cog aligns with our previous study, 29 which demonstrated that 6 months of progressive aerobic exercise significantly improved memory (both verbal and spatial), but not EF, in women with probable mild cognitive impairment aged 70-80 years. Memory is a key cognitive domain assessed by ADAS-Cog and has been shown to be particularly impaired in persons with small subcortical strokes.…”

Memory consolidation — Mechanisms and opportunities for enhancement

“…There have also been exercise-instigated improvements reported in other studies involving adults who are at risk of AD [85]. Furthermore, one intriguing study suggests speci c types of physical activity can differentially affect individual facets of memory; in MCI patients, verbal memory was improved by aerobic exercise, but spatial memory was improved by both aerobic and resistance training [84].…”

“…This restoration of neurogenesis occurred once the AD-like symptoms were underway, revealing a potential for not only a delay of the symptoms, but actually a reversal. In a study of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients [84], those in the control condition found their declarative memory deteriorated after six months, as the course of the disease progressed. Strikingly, however, those in the exercise conditions had memory which was not only preserved after six months, but actually improved compared to baseline.…”

Are the Timed Up and Go Test and Functional Reach Test useful predictors of temporal and spatial gait parameters in elderly people?

“…Age-related deficits in the central nervous system control [5], physiological and biomechanical changes within the muscular system [6], and functional impairment of sensory organs [7] disrupt walking mechanics and movements of individual body parts in relation to each other (e.g. [2,8]).…”