Abstract
Background: Dance is a complex activity combining physical exercise with cognitive, social, and artistic stimulation.Objectives: We aimed to assess the effects of dance intervention (DI) on intra and inter-network resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) and its association to cognitive changes in a group of non-demented elderly participants.Methods: Participants were randomly assigned into two groups: DI and life as usual (LAU). Six-month-long DI consisted of supervised 60 min lessons three times per week. Resting-state fMRI data were processed using independent component analysis to evaluate the intra and inter-network connectivity of large-scale brain networks. Interaction between group (DI, LAU) and visit (baseline, follow-up) was assessed using ANOVA, and DI-induced changes in rs-FC were correlated with cognitive outcomes.Results: Data were analyzed in 68 participants (DI; n = 36 and LAU; n = 32). A significant behavioral effect was found in the attention domain, with Z scores increasing in the DI group and decreasing in the LAU group (p = 0.017). The DI as compared to LAU led to a significant rs-FC increase of the default mode network (DMN) and specific inter-network pairings, including insulo-opercular and right frontoparietal/frontoparietal control networks (p = 0.019 and p = 0.023), visual and language/DMN networks (p = 0.012 and p = 0.015), and cerebellar and visual/language networks (p = 0.015 and p = 0.003). The crosstalk of the insulo-opercular and right frontoparietal networks were associated with attention/executive domain Z-scores (R = 0.401, p = 0.015, and R = 0.412, p = 0.012).Conclusion: The DI led to intervention-specific complex brain plasticity changes that were of cognitive relevance.
Highlights
Dance is a complex activity combining physical exercise with cognitive, social, and artistic stimulation (Burzynska et al, 2017)
A significant behavioral effect was found in the attention domain, with Z scores increasing in the dance intervention (DI) group and decreasing in the life activities as usual (LAU) group (p = 0.017)
The DI as compared to LAU led to a significant resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) increase of the default mode network (DMN) and specific internetwork pairings, including insulo-opercular and right frontoparietal/frontoparietal control networks (p = 0.019 and p = 0.023), visual and language/DMN networks (p = 0.012 and p = 0.015), and cerebellar and visual/language networks (p = 0.015 and p = 0.003)
Summary
Dance is a complex activity combining physical exercise with cognitive, social, and artistic stimulation (Burzynska et al, 2017). The effects of dance intervention on brain plasticity include various structural changes, such as an increase in gray matter volume (left hippocampus, left dentate gyrus, left precentral gyrus, etc.) as well as an increase in white matter integrity (fornix, corpus callosum), for a full review please see TeixeiraMachado et al (2019) These findings are in concordance with our recent works, where 6-month-long DI as compared to life activities as usual (LAU) and resulted in significant improvement in a Five Point Test (FPT) which evaluated attention and executive functions (Kropacova et al, 2019), and in increases of cortical thickness of the right lateral occipitotemporal cortex (Rektorova et al, 2020) implicated in learning new skilled movements (Gatti et al, 2017).
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