Abstract
BackgroundTai Chi practice has some fitness, wellness, and general cognitive effects in older adults. However, benefits of Tai Chi on specific mental-attentional executive processes have not been investigated previously. We studied older Canadian adults of Chinese and non-Chinese origin and from low socioeconomic areas.MethodsSixty-four adults (51–87 years old) took part in a 16-week Tai Chi program. There were two groups: Chinese-background (n = 35) and Non-Chinese-background (n = 29). They received four mental-attention executive tasks before and after the 16-week period. These tasks measured visuospatial reasoning, mental-attentional activation (working memory), attentional inhibition, and balance between these attention factors (field-dependence-independence).ResultsChinese participants showed significant gain on Figural Intersections Task (mental-attentional capacity), Antisaccade (attentional inhibition), and Matrix Reasoning (fluid intelligence measure). Both groups evidenced gain on the Water Level Task (attentional balance).ConclusionsThese gains suggest that Tai Chi can improve mental-attentional vigilance and executive control, when practitioners are sufficiently motivated to pursue this practice, and apply themselves (as our Chinese participants seem to have done). We found that Tai Chi enhanced mental attentional executives in the Chinese sample. The largely negative results with Non-Chinese participants might be explained by less strong motivation and by the relatively short Tai Chi practice period, which contrasts with the prior familiarity with Tai Chi of the Chinese participants.
Highlights
Tai Chi practice has some fitness, wellness, and general cognitive effects in older adults
We suggest that three general-purpose mentalresource factors enable Tai Chi performances: (1) application of high mental-attentional activation and vigilance – indexed in this study by the visuospatial Figural Intersections Task (FIT); (2) attentional interruption of habitual/automatized processes that interfere with the task – indexed in this study by the well-known Antisaccade task; and (3) dynamic balancing of mental activation and mental inhibition, optimizing flow of valid performance – here indexed by Water Level Task (WLT), a quantitative measure inspired by Piaget’s work on representation of horizontality
More Chinese participants had over one year previous experience with Tai Chi
Summary
Tai Chi practice has some fitness, wellness, and general cognitive effects in older adults. Recent meta-analyses of pre-post studies, and randomized controlled trials, find that aerobic exercise increases cognitive functioning (e.g., attentional alertness and working memory) in older adults, without clarifying why [7, 8]. Tai Chi is an ancient low-intensity meditative exercise [9], which does not exceed 55 % of maximal oxygen intake [11]. Practiced, it can have potent effects on physical and mental fitness. Cross-sectional and randomized controlled-trial studies, in Hong Kong and the United States, have found that older people who practice Tai Chi show greater gains in general
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