Baym Carol L, Khan Naiman A, Pence Ari, Raine Lauren B, Hillman Charles H, Cohen Neal J
University of Illinois.
J Cogn Neurosci. 2014 Nov;26(11):2645-52. doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_00667. Epub 2014 Jun 4.
Health factors such as an active lifestyle and aerobic fitness have long been linked to decreased risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, and other adverse health outcomes. Only more recently have researchers begun to investigate the relationship between aerobic fitness and memory function. Based on recent findings in behavioral and cognitive neuroscience showing that the hippocampus might be especially sensitive to the effects of exercise and fitness, the current study assessed hippocampal-dependent relational memory and non-hippocampal-dependent item memory in young adults across a range of aerobic fitness levels. Aerobic fitness was assessed using a graded exercise test to measure oxygen consumption during maximal exercise (VO2max), and relational and item memory were assessed using behavioral and eye movement measures. Behavioral results indicated that aerobic fitness was positively correlated with relational memory performance but not item memory performance, suggesting that the beneficial effects of aerobic fitness selectively affect hippocampal function and not that of the surrounding medial temporal lobe cortex. Eye movement results further supported the specificity of this fitness effect to hippocampal function, in that aerobic fitness predicted disproportionate preferential viewing of previously studied relational associations but not of previously viewed items. Potential mechanisms underlying this pattern of results, including neurogenesis, are discussed.
长期以来，诸如积极的生活方式和有氧适能等健康因素一直与心血管疾病、中风及其他不良健康后果的风险降低相关联。直到最近，研究人员才开始探究有氧适能与记忆功能之间的关系。基于行为和认知神经科学的最新研究结果表明，海马体可能对运动和适能的影响尤为敏感，本研究评估了不同有氧适能水平的年轻人中依赖海马体的关系记忆和不依赖海马体的项目记忆。使用分级运动测试评估有氧适能，以测量最大运动时的耗氧量（最大摄氧量，VO2max），并使用行为和眼动测量方法评估关系记忆和项目记忆。行为结果表明，有氧适能与关系记忆表现呈正相关，但与项目记忆表现无关，这表明有氧适能的有益影响选择性地影响海马体功能，而非周围内侧颞叶皮质的功能。眼动结果进一步支持了这种适能效应对海马体功能的特异性，即有氧适能预示着对先前研究的关系关联而非先前查看的项目有不成比例的优先注视。文中讨论了这一结果模式的潜在机制，包括神经发生。
