The Dancing Brain: Structural and Functional Signatures of Expert Dance Training.

Dance - as a ritual, therapy, and leisure activity - has been known for thousands of years. Today, dance is increasingly used as therapy for cognitive and neurological disorders such as dementia and Parkinson's disease. Surprisingly, the effects of dance training on the healthy young brain are not well understood despite the necessity of such information for planning successful clinical interventions.

White Matter Integrity Declined Over 6-Months, but Dance Intervention Improved Integrity of the Fornix of Older Adults.

Degeneration of cerebral white matter (WM), or structural disconnection, is one of the major neural mechanisms driving age-related decline in cognitive functions, such as processing speed. Past cross-sectional studies have demonstrated beneficial effects of greater cardiorespiratory fitness, physical activity, cognitive training, social engagement, and nutrition on cognitive functioning and brain health in aging. Here, we collected diffusion magnetic resonance (MRI) imaging data from 174 older (age 60-79) adults to study the effects of 6-months lifestyle interventions on WM integrity.

Aerobic fitness is associated with greater hippocampal cerebral blood flow in children.

The present study is the first to investigate whether cerebral blood flow in the hippocampus relates to aerobic fitness in children. In particular, we used arterial spin labeling (ASL) perfusion MRI to provide a quantitative measure of blood flow in the hippocampus in 73 7- to 9-year-old preadolescent children. Indeed, aerobic fitness was found to relate to greater perfusion in the hippocampus, independent of age, sex, and hippocampal volume.

Physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness are beneficial for white matter in low-fit older adults.

Physical activity (PA) and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) are associated with better cognitive function in late life, but the neural correlates for these relationships are unclear. To study these correlates, we examined the association of both PA and CRF with measures of white matter (WM) integrity in 88 healthy low-fit adults (age 60-78). Using accelerometry, we objectively measured sedentary behavior, light PA, and moderate to vigorous PA (MV-PA) over a week.

White matter microstructure is associated with cognitive control in children.

Cognitive control, which involves the ability to pay attention and suppress interference, is important for learning and achievement during childhood. The white matter tracts related to control during childhood are not well known. We examined the relationship between white matter microstructure and cognitive control in 61 children aged 7-9 years using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).

The effects of physical activity on functional MRI activation associated with cognitive control in children: a randomized controlled intervention.

This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the influence of a 9-month physical activity program on task-evoked brain activation during childhood. The results demonstrated that 8- to 9-year-old children who participated in 60+ min of physical activity, 5 days per week, for 9 months, showed decreases in fMRI brain activation in the right anterior prefrontal cortex coupled with within-group improvements in performance on a task of attentional and interference control. Children assigned to a wait-list control group did not show changes in brain function.