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Free keywords:
Aerobic exercise; Aging; Resting-state fMRI; DLPFC; Task-switching
Abstract:
Cardiovascular fitness is thought to exert beneficial effects on brain function and might delay the onset of cognitive decline. Empirical evidence of exercise-induced cognitive enhancement, however, has not been conclusive, possibly due to short intervention times in clinical trials. Resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) has been proposed as an early indicator for intervention-induced changes.
Here, we conducted a study in which healthy older overweight subjects took either part in a moderate aerobic exercise program over 6 months (AE group; n = 11) or control condition of non-aerobic stretching and toning (NAE group; n = 18). While cognitive and gray matter volume changes were rather small (i.e., appeared only in certain sub-scores without Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons or using small volume correction), we found significantly increased RSFC after training between dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and superior parietal gyrus/precuneus in the AE compared to the NAE group.
This intervention study demonstrates an exercise-induced modulation of RSFC between key structures of the executive control and default mode networks, which might mediate an interaction between task-positive and task-negative brain activation required for task switching. Results further emphasize the value of RSFC as a sensitive biomarker for detecting early intervention-related cognitive improvements in clinical trials.
