Troisi Lopez Emahnuel, Liparoti Marianna, Passarello Noemi, Lucidi Fabio, Mandolesi Laura
Institute of Applied Sciences and Intelligent Systems, National Research Council, 80078 Pozzuoli, Italy.
Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University of Roma "Sapienza", 00185 Rome, Italy.
Brain Sci. 2023 Sep 30;13(10):1400. doi: 10.3390/brainsci13101400.
Recent evidence has shown a relationship between physical exercise (PE) and cognitive functioning. However, it is unknown if unimodal and multimodal modalities of PE affect cognitive abilities in different ways. To fill this gap, we analyzed the effects of unimodal PE (running) and multimodal PE (Tai Chi) on specific cognitive abilities. A sample of 33 participants (mean age = 52.6 ± 7.2) divided into eleven runners, eleven Tai Chi practitioners, and eleven age-matched sedentary individuals were subjected to a neuropsychological tests battery to assess shifting and problem solving abilities (Rule Shift Cards, BADS-RS, and Key Search tasks), verbal fluency (semantic and phonemic verbal fluency tasks), verbal memory (Rey's 15 words test), visuo-spatial working memory (Corsi test), and global cognitive functioning (clock-drawing test). The results showed significantly higher BADS-RS scores in runners and Tai Chi practitioners in comparison to the sedentary participants, thus evidencing improved shifting abilities for active individuals. Interestingly, post hoc analysis showed significantly higher span scores of Corsi test only in Tai Chi practitioners as compared to sedentary participants, suggesting how multimodal PE facilitates the visuo-spatial working memory processes. Although preliminary, our descriptive study indicates that the type of PE could modulate specific cognitive domains, even if the practice of motor activity favors a global cognitive improvement.
近期证据表明体育锻炼（PE）与认知功能之间存在关联。然而，单一模式和多模式的体育锻炼是否以不同方式影响认知能力尚不清楚。为填补这一空白，我们分析了单一模式体育锻炼（跑步）和多模式体育锻炼（太极拳）对特定认知能力的影响。33名参与者（平均年龄 = 52.6 ± 7.2岁）的样本被分为11名跑步者、11名太极拳练习者和11名年龄匹配的久坐不动者，他们接受了一套神经心理学测试，以评估转换和解决问题的能力（规则转换卡片、行为评估困难量表-规则转换（BADS-RS）和钥匙搜索任务）、语言流畅性（语义和音素语言流畅性任务）、语言记忆（雷伊15词测验）、视觉空间工作记忆（科西测验）和整体认知功能（画钟测验）。结果显示，与久坐不动的参与者相比，跑步者和太极拳练习者的BADS-RS得分显著更高，从而证明了活跃个体的转换能力有所提高。有趣的是，事后分析显示，与久坐不动的参与者相比，只有太极拳练习者的科西测验跨度得分显著更高，这表明多模式体育锻炼如何促进视觉空间工作记忆过程。尽管是初步研究，但我们的描述性研究表明，体育锻炼的类型可能会调节特定的认知领域，即使体育活动的练习有利于整体认知能力的提高。
