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Temporal Dynamics of Motor Functioning and Cognitive Aging.

ABSTRACT: Because of the possible implications for intervention and thus successful aging, researchers have striven to determine whether the age changes in physical and cognitive functioning are coincident or does functioning in one domain change before, and possibly contribute to, functioning in the other.Bivariate dual change score models were applied to four cognitive factors and three motor functioning factors available from 813 adults who participated in the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging. Participants were aged 50-88 at the first of six waves of testing covering a 19-year follow-up period; 68% participated in at least three waves.Model comparisons indicated dynamic coupling relationships between Balance and Fine Motor factors and the Speed cognitive factor. Decline in motor function precedes decline in performance on processing speed tasks, even though the motor function tasks were not timed. Results indicated possible bidirectional coupling between Fine Motor and Speed.Combined with other dual change score model analyses of cognition and physical function, a picture is beginning to emerge of the cascade of events that may lead to cognitive aging.

SUBMITTER: Finkel D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4881822 | biostudies-other | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Temporal Dynamics of Motor Functioning and Cognitive Aging.

Finkel Deborah D Ernsth-Bravell Marie M Pedersen Nancy L NL

The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences 20150818 1

<h4>Background</h4>Because of the possible implications for intervention and thus successful aging, researchers have striven to determine whether the age changes in physical and cognitive functioning are coincident or does functioning in one domain change before, and possibly contribute to, functioning in the other.<h4>Methods</h4>Bivariate dual change score models were applied to four cognitive factors and three motor functioning factors available from 813 adults who participated in the Swedish ...[more]

PMID: 26286604

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Project description:BackgroundSeveral types of cognitive or combined cognitive-motor intervention types that might influence physical functions have been proposed in the past: training of dual-tasking abilities, and improving cognitive function through behavioral interventions or the use of computer games. The objective of this systematic review was to examine the literature regarding the use of cognitive and cognitive-motor interventions to improve physical functioning in older adults or people with neurological impairments that are similar to cognitive impairments seen in aging. The aim was to identify potentially promising methods that might be used in future intervention type studies for older adults.MethodsA systematic search was conducted for the Medline/Premedline, PsycINFO, CINAHL and EMBASE databases. The search was focused on older adults over the age of 65. To increase the number of articles for review, we also included those discussing adult patients with neurological impairments due to trauma, as these cognitive impairments are similar to those seen in the aging population. The search was restricted to English, German and French language literature without any limitation of publication date or restriction by study design. Cognitive or cognitive-motor interventions were defined as dual-tasking, virtual reality exercise, cognitive exercise, or a combination of these.Results28 articles met our inclusion criteria. Three articles used an isolated cognitive rehabilitation intervention, seven articles used a dual-task intervention and 19 applied a computerized intervention. There is evidence to suggest that cognitive or motor-cognitive methods positively affects physical functioning, such as postural control, walking abilities and general functions of the upper and lower extremities, respectively. The majority of the included studies resulted in improvements of the assessed functional outcome measures.ConclusionsThe current evidence on the effectiveness of cognitive or motor-cognitive interventions to improve physical functioning in older adults or people with neurological impairments is limited. The heterogeneity of the studies published so far does not allow defining the training methodology with the greatest effectiveness. This review nevertheless provides important foundational information in order to encourage further development of novel cognitive or cognitive-motor interventions, preferably with a randomized control design. Future research that aims to examine the relation between improvements in cognitive skills and the translation to better performance on selected physical tasks should explicitly take the relation between the cognitive and physical skills into account.

Project description:Declines in cognitive functioning are commonly experienced with aging, yet there is wide variation in the nature and extent of these changes. Previous research has shown associations between the frequency of engaging in stimulating cognitive activities and performance on cognitive tests. However, it is not known whether it is important to increase the amount of cognitive activity as one gets older in order to curtail cognitive declines. We examined cognitive activities and cognition in a national sample of 2,130 community-dwelling middle-aged and older adults from the Midlife in the United States longitudinal study. Participants completed cognitive assessments of episodic memory (EM) and executive functioning (EF) on two occasions, ~9 years apart. At the first assessment, participants ranged in age between 33 and 83 years (M = 55.76, SD = 11.09), with 56.1% women. Multilevel models were tested to examine educational level and change in cognitive activity as predictors of change in EM and EF, controlling for initial level of cognitive activity and key correlates of cognitive decline. Results indicated that increases in cognitive activity were important over and above earlier levels of cognitive activity for reducing declines in EF. Further analysis also showed differential results by educational level. Increased cognitive activity was not associated with changes in EF among individuals with a college degree. In contrast, individuals without a college degree who increased their cognitive activity showed significantly less decline in EF compared to those without a college degree who decreased or maintained their cognitive activity across the 9 years. Thus, the results suggest that increased engagement in cognitive activity makes more of a difference for EF declines among those without a college degree. The results have particular relevance given that aging-related changes in domains such as work status, health, or social relationships can lead to reductions in stimulating cognitive activities. The findings emphasize the importance of increasing cognitive activities especially among those with lower educational attainment.

Dataset Information

Temporal Dynamics of Motor Functioning and Cognitive Aging.

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Temporal Dynamics of Motor Functioning and Cognitive Aging.

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