COGNITIVE AGING AND PHYSICAL EXERCISE

Abstract

Links between successful cognitive aging and physical exercise have been repeatedly suggested, but are still equivocal in the literature. Determination of the nature of these effects may be of considerable importance for the success of older adults in a variety of traditional and nontraditional educational and training settings. In the present study, young and older adults with different current patterns of exercise were recruited. A standard test of cognitive abilities, the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (KBIT), was administered, together with an evaluation of free recall of pictorial and verbal stimuli, under conditions which either maximized or minimized the opportunity for respondents to use semantic support. These manipulations made it possible to evaluate the relationship between exercise and cognitive performance in several relevant areas of cognition simultaneously. As expected, the pattern of results obtained was complex; the influence of exercise on cognitive performance proved to be highly domain-specific. Exercise was not related to the intellectual abilities evaluated by the KBIT, but did have effects on recall. Specifically, exercise in young adults resulted in better recall of categorized stimuli than did its relative absence. No such effects of semantic support were found with older adults; however, relatively high levels of exercise did result in better recall of verbal stimuli, but not pictorial stimuli, for older adults. Results indicate that salutary effects of exercise on cognitive functioning across the adult lifespan exist, but that these influences are confined to specific areas of cognitive performance.