Department of Neuromotor Behavior and Exercise, University of Münster, Wilhelm-Schickard-Str. 8, 48149, Münster, Germany.
Institute of Human Movement Science and Health, Chemnitz University of Technology, Chemnitz, Germany.
Geroscience. 2024 Jun;46(3):3297-3310. doi: 10.1007/s11357-024-01065-8. Epub 2024 Jan 23.
Cardiorespiratory fitness is known to protect against cognitive decline in older adults. Specifically, it has been shown that physical activity and fitness are beneficial for executive functions that are crucial for independent living up to old age. In this study, 115 individuals aged 80 years and older underwent a cardiorespiratory fitness assessment using the two-minute step test and had their electroencephalogram recorded during a colored flanker task in order to measure executive function performance. Cardiorespiratory fitness was related to quicker responses during the flanker task. A mediation analysis was carried out to determine whether these positive effects were mediated through event-related potentials (N1, N2, or P3) or motor-related cortical potentials (MRCP). Cardiorespiratory fitness was related to better visual discriminative processing as indicated by larger occipital N1 amplitudes. In addition, fitness was associated with larger MRCP amplitudes, which are a correlate of the response generation process. Fitness was not found to have a significant effect on fronto-central N2 or parietal P3, which are thought to capture cognitive control processes such as conflict detection and response inhibition. Moreover, all effects reported were present in all three flanker trial conditions (congruent, neutral, and incongruent). Thus, these results indicate that the quicker response times in fitter people were related to visual processing and motor response generation rather than cognitive control.
心肺适能可预防老年人认知能力下降。具体而言，已证明体力活动和健康对执行功能有益，而执行功能对高龄人群的独立生活至关重要。在这项研究中，115 名 80 岁以上的个体接受了两分钟踏步测试的心肺适能评估，并在进行彩色 Flanker 任务时记录了他们的脑电图，以测量执行功能表现。心肺适能与 Flanker 任务中的更快反应有关。进行了中介分析，以确定这些积极影响是否通过事件相关电位（N1、N2 或 P3）或运动相关皮质电位（MRCP）介导。心肺适能与更好的视觉辨别处理有关，表现为枕部 N1 振幅更大。此外，适应度与更大的 MRCP 幅度相关，这是反应生成过程的相关指标。未发现适应度对额中央 N2 或顶叶 P3 有显著影响，这些区域被认为可以捕获认知控制过程，如冲突检测和反应抑制。此外，报告的所有影响在所有三种 Flanker 试验条件（一致、中性和不一致）中均存在。因此，这些结果表明，适应度更高的人更快的反应时间与视觉处理和运动反应生成有关，而不是认知控制。
