Abstract
Insidious declines in normal aging are well-established. Emerging evidence suggests that non-pharmacological interventions, specifically cognitive and physical training, may counter diminishing age-related cognitive and brain functions. This randomized trial compared effects of two training protocols: cognitive training (CT) vs. physical training (PT) on cognition and brain function in adults 56–75 years. Sedentary participants (N = 36) were randomized to either CT or PT group for 3 h/week over 12 weeks. They were assessed at baseline-, mid-, and post-training using neurocognitive, MRI, and physiological measures. The CT group improved on executive function whereas PT group's memory was enhanced. Uniquely deploying cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebral vascular reactivity (CVR) MRI, the CT cohort showed increased CBF within the prefrontal and middle/posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) without change to CVR compared to PT group. Improvements in complex abstraction were positively associated with increased resting CBF in dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC). Exercisers with higher CBF in hippocampi bilaterally showed better immediate memory. The preliminary evidence indicates that increased cognitive and physical activity improves brain health in distinct ways. Reasoning training enhanced frontal networks shown to be integral to top-down cognitive control and brain resilience. Evidence of increased resting CBF without changes to CVR implicates increased neural health rather than improved vascular response. Exercise did not improve cerebrovascular response, although CBF increased in hippocampi of those with memory gains. Distinct benefits incentivize testing effectiveness of combined protocols to strengthen brain health.
Highlights
Life expectancy has increased steadily over the past century; but the downside of longer life is fear of losing the mental capability to sustain independent living
All cognitive training (CT, n = 18) and physical training (PT, n = 18) participants completed the neurocognitive assessments at each time point
We found that the gain in near transfer effect (i.e., Test of Strategic Learning (TOSL)) associated with increase in dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) cerebral blood flow (CBF) in the CT group and the enhanced memory correlated with increase in hippocampal CBF in the PT group
Summary
Life expectancy has increased steadily over the past century; but the downside of longer life is fear of losing the mental capability to sustain independent living. Adults are more worried about cognitive health than cancer or heart health for the first time ever (IOM Report, 2015). Many normally aging adults without dementia manifest continuous and significant cognitive losses. These cognitive losses are most frequently identified in domains of executive function/cognitive control and memory (Cepeda et al, 2001; Mahncke et al, 2006a; Levine et al, 2007). Executive function refers to the ability to flexibly select and inhibit information; to maintain, update, and abstract meanings; and to fluidly innovate ideas, while at the same time maintaining an active goal in mind (Levine et al, 2007; Badre, 2008; Vas et al, 2015). With regard to memory function, older adults consistently perform lower than younger individuals and the gap widens with advancing age (Salthouse, 1994)
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