1. Physical Exercise and Spatial Training: A Longitudinal Study of Effects on Cognition, Growth Factors, and Hippocampal Plasticity
- Author
-
Tilmann A. Klein, Luise Woost, Elisabeth Roggenhofer, Hellmuth Obrig, Pierre-Louis Bazin, Gerd Kempermann, Günter K. Stalla, Alexander Garthe, Derek V. M. Ott, Arno Villringer, Marco Taubert, Viola Rjosk, Ulrich Renner, Christine L. Tardif, Robert Trampel, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (NIN), and Spinoza Centre for Neuroimaging
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Longitudinal study ,metabolism [Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins] ,Adolescent ,physiology [Hippocampus] ,Spatial Learning ,lcsh:Medicine ,Physical exercise ,Audiology ,Hippocampal formation ,Hippocampus ,Article ,050105 experimental psychology ,03 medical and health sciences ,Young Adult ,0302 clinical medicine ,Cognition ,Neuroplasticity ,Journal Article ,Medicine ,Humans ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance ,Longitudinal Studies ,Young adult ,Exercise physiology ,lcsh:Science ,Exercise ,Multidisciplinary ,Neuronal Plasticity ,business.industry ,05 social sciences ,lcsh:R ,Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ,Female ,lcsh:Q ,business ,ddc:600 ,physiology [Exercise] ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
Physical exercise has been suggested to improve cognitive performance through various neurobiological mechanisms, mediated by growth factors such as BDNF, IGF-I, and VEGF. Moreover, animal research has demonstrated that combined physical and cognitive stimulation leads to increased adult neurogenesis as compared to either experimental condition alone. In the present study, we therefore investigated whether a sequential combination of physical and spatial training in young, healthy adults elicits an additive effect on training and transfer gains. To this end, we compared the effects of (i) eight 20-minute sessions of cycling, (ii) sixteen 30-minute sessions of spatial training, (iii) a combination of both, and included (iv) a passive control cohort. We assessed longitudinal changes in cognitive performance, growth factor levels, and T1 relaxation of hippocampal subfields (acquired with 7 T MRI). While substantial physical and spatial training gains were elicited in all trained groups, longitudinal transfer changes did not differ between these groups. Notably, we found no evidence for an additive effect of sequential physical and spatial training. These results challenge the extrapolation from the findings reported in animals to young, healthy adults.
- Published
- 2018
- Full Text
- View/download PDF