Indra Nina Maurisse, Pascale Piolino, Lucile Nouvel, Eric Orriols, Alexandre Bellegarde, Samy Chikhi, Bastien Largant, Romuald Lepers, Sophie Blanchet
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Master athletes are a model of successful aging as their high level of physical activity limits the age-related change of physiological functions. This model is used to investigate how a high level of physical activity impacts cognitive functioning. We aim to study the effect of a high level of physical activity on the ability to manage interferences and binding processes in episodic encoding in an ecological situation. Fifty-five participants were recruited and separated into three groups: 18 master athletes (MA, M = 69.39, SD = 1.13 years), 18 young adults (YA, M = 22.44, SD = 1.10 years), and 19 older adults with a moderate level of physical activity (OA, M = 72.11, SD = 1.10 years). Participants performed an episodic memory task assessing binding processes by encoding under either full or divided attention using a virtual reality technique. After encoding under divided attention, MA outperformed OA in the interference task as well as in the binding score on both free and cued recall. After encoding under full attention, YA and MA did not differ in the number of events recalled in cued recall. Furthermore, significant correlations were found between weekly volume of physical activity and cognitive performance. Binding and interference management, and probably the hippocampus along with prefrontal areas, benefit the most from a sustained and regular physical activity in master athletes.
期刊介绍:
Experimental Aging Research is a life span developmental and aging journal dealing with research on the aging process from a psychological and psychobiological perspective. It meets the need for a scholarly journal with refereed scientific papers dealing with age differences and age changes at any point in the adult life span. Areas of major focus include experimental psychology, neuropsychology, psychobiology, work research, ergonomics, and behavioral medicine. Original research, book reviews, monographs, and papers covering special topics are published.