Abstract
Older adults have difficulties in sentence comprehension when working memory (WM) load increases (e.g., multiple embedded clauses). Structured physical activity has been related to improvements in cognition; however, incidental physical activity (PA, i.e., unstructured daily physical activities), particularly incidental vigorous activity has been poorly studied in relation to its effects on behavior. Furthermore, no positive effect on language has been reported in either form of physical activity. The aim of this study was to evaluate how two levels of PA (high or low) affect WM processing and how this, in turn, may affect morphosyntactic processing in older adults. Individuals with high PA (n = 18) had a higher WM load effect than those with low PA (n = 18), both behaviorally (greater differences between high and low WM loads in correct responses) and in terms of event-related potentials (only subjects with high PA showed LAN and P600b amplitude differences between high and low WM loads). These findings suggest that PA promotes cognitive strategies to face WM loads and morphosyntactic processing.
Highlights
Aging entails cognitive changes that, in older adults, can manifest as a decline in sustained attention, selective inhibition [1], selective attention [2, 3], divided attention [3, 4], perception [2], and episodic memory [5]
Pairwise comparisons revealed a significant effect of Agreement in the h-physical activity (PA) group but not in the level of PA (l-PA) group ; groups significantly differed in the effect of Agreement (MD = 9.96, p = .04, see the analysis; Fig 2B)
Our results partially fit our expectations, as we observed that the group with high level of PA (h-PA) displayed better accuracy than the older adults with l-PA during low working memory (WM) load condition but not during high WM load condition
Summary
Aging entails cognitive changes that, in older adults, can manifest as a decline in sustained attention, selective inhibition [1], selective attention [2, 3], divided attention [3, 4], perception [2], and episodic memory [5]. Language is regarded as a crystallized cognitive process [6], important changes in sentence processing have been reported in older people, in the comprehension of embedded syntactic structures [8, 9] and in morphosyntactic processing [10, 11]; this latter process involves agreement rules between lexical units (e.g., in the phrase “He runs,” the pronoun “He” inherits the number agreement to the verb “run” and the suffix “s” is added). Incidental physical activity and morphosyntactic processing design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript
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