Comparing the effects of an acute bout of physical exercise with an acute bout of interactive mental and physical exercise on electrophysiology and executive functioning in younger and older adults

Abstract Objective Physical exercise shows benefits to executive functioning (EF), a cognitive process that is relevant to goal-directed planning, application of complex rules, and dynamic control of action. However, many older adults have not engaged in exercise due to social distancing measures implemented to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. The present study aims to administer a remote physical exercise training program to older adults in Canada and examine its effects on EF and mood, beginning with the collection of the following baseline data. Methods So far, nine older adults (78% females, 66–78 years-old) have completed a remote assessment that examines current physical exercise engagement, Covid-related distress, general mood, and executive behavior. In addition, the assessment included computerized tasks measuring various aspects of EF. Pattern analyses were used to characterize trends in baseline data. Results 67% of participants reported undergoing no moderate-vigorous physical exercise in a typical week. Compared to other participants, more individuals in this subgroup performed at a lower rate on a higher-order EF task (i.e., the Balloon Analogue Risk Task). Similarly, more participants who endorsed higher Covid-related psychological distress performed worse in the same task compared to others (40% in the lower third of performance vs. 0%), and also endorsed more difficulties with organization. Conclusions These results suggest that those who do not engage in physical exercise are potential candidates to experience the mental health and cognitive benefits of a physical exercise training program.

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Relationship Between Personality and Executive Functioning in Older Adults

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e636222010-001 ◽

2010 ◽

Author(s):

Aviva Y. Androphy ◽

Richard Zweig

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Executive Functioning

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Executive Functioning and Working Memory Ability Predict Medication Adherence in a Large Sample of Community-Dwelling Older Adults

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e674042007-005 ◽

2006 ◽

Author(s):

K. Insel ◽

D. Morrow ◽

B. Brewer ◽

A. Figueredo

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Working Memory ◽

Medication Adherence ◽

Executive Functioning ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Memory Ability ◽

Large Sample ◽

Community Dwelling Older Adults

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Spontaneous Eye Blinks Predict Executive Functioning in Seniors

Journal of Cognitive Enhancement ◽

10.1007/s41465-021-00217-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jessika I. V. Buitenweg ◽

Jaap M. J. Murre ◽

K. Richard Ridderinkhof

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Working Memory ◽

Executive Functioning ◽

Cognitive Training ◽

Functional Decline ◽

Future Research ◽

Blink Rate ◽

Memory Updating ◽

Age Related ◽

Working Memory Updating

AbstractAs the world’s population is aging rapidly, cognitive training is an extensively used approach to attempt improvement of age-related cognitive functioning. With increasing numbers of older adults required to remain in the workforce, it is important to be able to reliably predict future functional decline, as well as the individual advantages of cognitive training. Given the correlation between age-related decline and striatal dopaminergic function, we investigated whether eye blink rate (EBR), a non-invasive, indirect indicator of dopaminergic activity, could predict executive functioning (response inhibition, switching and working memory updating) as well as trainability of executive functioning in older adults. EBR was collected before and after a cognitive flexibility training, cognitive training without flexibility, or a mock training. EBR predicted working memory updating performance on two measures of updating, as well as trainability of working memory updating, whereas performance and trainability in inhibition and switching tasks could not be predicted by EBR. Our findings tentatively indicate that EBR permits prediction of working memory performance in older adults. To fully interpret the relationship with executive functioning, we suggest future research should assess both EBR and dopamine receptor availability among seniors.

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Long-term participation in community group exercise improves lower extremity muscle strength and delays age-related declines in walking speed and physical function in older adults

European Review of Aging and Physical Activity ◽

10.1186/s11556-021-00260-2 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Chisato Hayashi ◽

Soshiro Ogata ◽

Tadashi Okano ◽

Hiromitsu Toyoda ◽

Sonoe Mashino

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Muscle Strength ◽

Physical Exercise ◽

Lower Extremity ◽

Physical Function ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Group Exercise ◽

Community Based ◽

Lower Extremity Muscle

Abstract Background The effects of group exercise on the physical function of community-dwelling older adults remain unclear. The changes in lower extremity muscle strength, timed up and go (TUG) time, and the motor fitness scale (MFS), over time, among older adults who expressed a willingness to participate in community-based physical exercise groups, were determined using multilevel modelling. Methods We analyzed data of 2407 older adults between April 2010 and December 2019 from the registry of physical tests of community-based physical exercise groups. We conducted a retrospective cohort study to assess the effect of physical exercise on lower extremity muscle strength, TUG time, and MFS scores. The durations of the exercises were evaluated by frequency of physical test’s participate. Results A deterioration in lower extremity muscle strength was found in the short-term participant group only. However, in the mid-term and long-term participation groups, lower extremity muscle strength showed a trend of improvement. The TUG time and the MFS score were negatively correlated with increasing age in both groups divided by the duration of participation. However, there was a slower rate of deterioration in the long-term participation group. Discussion Lower extremity muscle strength, TUG time, and MFS scores decline with increasing age and there were differences in the slope of deterioration that depended on the duration of participation in community-based group exercise. Conclusion Participation in group exercise improved lower extremity muscle strength, TUG time, and MFS scores of older adults living in a community. The positive effects of group exercise were dependent on long-term participation.

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The Effects of Engagement in Physical Exercise on Semi- autonomous Takeover Request Perception between Younger and Older Adults

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting ◽

10.1177/1071181320641007 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 64 (1) ◽

pp. 27-27

Author(s):

Gaojian Huang ◽

Brandon J. Pitts

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Physical Exercise

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Age Differences in Executive Control Assessed with a Robotic Object Hit and Avoid Test of Rapid Motor Decision Making

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igaa057.3255 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. 881-882

Author(s):

Alexandra Watral ◽

Kevin Trewartha

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Decision Making ◽

Executive Functioning ◽

Age Differences ◽

Executive Control ◽

Test Performance ◽

Cognitive Status ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Neuropsychological Tasks ◽

Measures Of Performance

Abstract Motor decision-making processes are required for many standard neuropsychological tasks, including the Trail Making Test (TMT), that aim to assess cognitive functioning in older adults. However, in their standard formats, it is difficult to isolate the relative contributions of sensorimotor and cognitive processes to performance on these neuropsychological tasks. Recently developed clinical tasks use a robotic manipulandum to assess both motor and cognitive aspects of rapid motor decision making in an object hit (OH) and object hit and avoid (OHA) task. We administered the OH and OHA tasks to 77 healthy younger adults and 59 healthy older adults to assess age differences in the motor and cognitive measures of performance. We administered the TMT parts A and B to assess the extent to which OHA performance is associated with executive functioning in particular. The results indicate that after controlling for hand speed, older adults performed worse on the OH and OHA tasks than younger adults, performance declines were far greater in the OHA task, and the global performance measures, which have been associated with cognitive status, were more sensitive to age differences than motor measures of performance. Those global measures of performance were also associated with measures of executive functioning on the TMT task. These findings provide evidence that rapid motor decision making tasks are sensitive to declines in executive control in aging. They also provide a way to isolate cognitive declines from declines in sensorimotor processes that are likely a contributing factor to age differences in neuropsychological test performance.

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