Abstract
Memory, namely visuomotor memory, is one of the most essential cognitive functions in elder’s life. Among others, regular exercise seems to be an important factor in counteracting age-related-cognitive skills changes and thus prevent memory loss. However, in spite of the importance of visuomotor memory, the results of the scarce studies concerning the influence of exercise on this capacity are contradictory. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of physical exercise (PE) in visuomotor memory (VMM) of elderly adults in function of gender and age. VMM (time spent in performing the test and errors during the execution) of 74 subjects aged 60-90 years, being 36 practitioners of PE (P - mean age of 70.22 ± 0.90 years) and 38 non-practitioners (NP - mean age of 68.26 ± 1.12 years) were assessed by VMM Test. The results showed that: a) P presented a better performance in the time of performing the test and in the number of errors committed compared to NP; b) Gender and age did not influence the VMM performance. Data suggest that PE seems to have positive effect in the VMM, independently of gender and age.
Highlights
Aging is a complex dynamic, progressive and irreversible process which is linked to biological, psychological, cognitive and social factors[1]
Visual-motor memory in old aged practitioners and non-practitioners of physical exercise (PE) in relation to gender and age In FIGURE 3 we can see graphically the means of the data obtained from the visuomotor memory test
Our results showed that practitioners presented a better performance in the time of performing the test and in the number of errors committed than non-practitioners of PE
Summary
Aging is a complex dynamic, progressive and irreversible process which is linked to biological, psychological, cognitive and social factors[1]. A recent study with animals aimed at examining age-related changes in the detection of spatial novelty (e.g., M et al.3), namely, verifying if old rats showed signi cant de cits compared to young rats in detecting spatial displacement of objects, showed that aged rats do not detect changes in object-place associations when exploring an environment In this regard, some studies in elderly and young population investigating the neural correlates of aging-related changes during encoding and retrieval of spatial contextual memory (e.g., K et al.4) and aspects of episodic memory (e.g., P et al.5) concluded that aging-related changes in neural activity associated with impaired spatial memory, including episodic memory.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
