Key result
Combined aerobic exercise and cognitive training alters resting-state functional connectivity vs control.
Why the study?
Although lifestyle interventions show neuroprotective effects in aging, how changes in resting-state functional connectivity contribute to cognitive improvements remains an open question.
Does aerobic exercise, computerized cognitive training, or their combination alter resting-state functional brain connectivity in physically inactive healthy late-middle-aged adults?
RCT (n=82)
Single-blind
Random combination of selected demographic variables (sex, age, education)
Yes
Does aerobic exercise, computerized cognitive training, or their combination alter resting-state functional brain connectivity in physically inactive healthy late-middle-aged adults?
p-value: p=<0.05
A 12-week combined intervention of aerobic exercise and computerized cognitive training altered resting-state functional brain connectivity in healthy late-middle-aged adults, though these changes did not mediate cognitive benefits.
Combined training alters connectivity where single modalities do not; extends RCT evidence for synergistic lifestyle effects on aging brain networks.
Lifestyle interventions have positive neuroprotective effects in aging. However, there are still open questions about how changes in resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) contribute to cognitive improvements. The Projecte Moviment is a 12-week randomized controlled trial of a multimodal data acquisition protocol that investigated the effects of aerobic exercise (AE), computerized cognitive training (CCT), and their combination (COMB). An initial list of 109 participants was recruited from which a total of 82 participants (62% female; age = 58.38 ± 5.47) finished the intervention with a level of adherence > 80%. Only in the COMB group, we revealed an extended network of 33 connections that involved an increased and decreased rsFC within and between the aDMN/pDMN and a reduced rsFC between the bilateral supplementary motor areas and the right thalamus. No global and especially local rsFC changes due to any intervention mediated the cognitive benefits detected in the AE and COMB groups. Projecte Moviment provides evidence of the clinical relevance of lifestyle interventions and the potential benefits when combining them.
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Dimitriadis et al. (2023) conducted an RCT in Healthy physically inactive late-middle-aged adults (n=82). Aerobic exercise, computerized cognitive training, and their combination vs. Waitlist control was evaluated on Changes in resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) (p=<0.05). A 12-week combined intervention of aerobic exercise and computerized cognitive training induced significant changes in an extended network of 33 resting-state functional connections.
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