Abstract
Recent studies have highlighted the importance of regular exercise on cognitive function in aging populations, with aerobic exercise and cardiovascular fitness having received the largest amount of research attention. However, the relationship between exercise mode and cognitive function underlying behavioral modification and neural activation remains unknown. The present study, therefore, sought to examine the associations between different exercise modes and the working memory (WM) aspect of executive function as well as its task-evoked brain activation in the late middle-aged population. Seventy late middle-aged adults were classified into open-skill, closed-skill, or irregular exercise groups based on their participation in exercise activities prior to the study and then performed a spatial working memory (SWM) task while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning. The results revealed that exercise groups, regardless of exercise modes, showed better SWM and physical fitness performance. Additionally, the open-skill group exhibited greater brain activation in the prefrontal lobe, anterior cingulate cortex/supplementary motor area (ACC/SMA), and hippocampus than those in the closed-skill group, suggesting a mode-sensitive compensatory mechanism in late middle-aged adults. These findings indicate that exercise promotes cognitive health, improves WM, and enhances neurocognitive scaffolding in late middle-aged adults and further suggest that various exercise modes can effectively modulate frontal and hippocampal function in the face of age-related neurocognitive declines, implications that may inform the development of exercise programs for the elderly.
Highlights
Increasing age is characterized by a progressive decline in many aspects of cognitive function, such as processing speed, working memory (WM), long-term memory, and reasoning (Park and Reuter-Lorenz, 2009; Salthouse, 2010)
Post hoc analysis showed that the closed-skill exercise group had the highest mean International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) score, followed by the open-skill exercise group and the irregular exercise group
The present task-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study examined the influences of open-skill and closed-skill exercise modes on physical fitness, cognitive performance, and neural activities associated with WM in late middle-aged adults
Summary
Increasing age is characterized by a progressive decline in many aspects of cognitive function, such as processing speed, working memory (WM), long-term memory, and reasoning (Park and Reuter-Lorenz, 2009; Salthouse, 2010). These cognitive declines are associated with increased risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia (Petersen et al, 2010), as well as losses in structural and functional brain (Hedden and Gabrieli, 2004), which are linked with neuropsychiatric symptoms and disability. Previous studies have thoroughly documented that cardiovascular fitness is positively associated with the subcomponents of inhibition and shifting (Themanson et al, 2006; Gothe et al, 2013; Chang et al, 2014; Fong et al, 2014; Leckie et al, 2014), as well as WM (Guiney and Machado, 2013)
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