Background: Cardiovascular responses to psychological stressors have been separately associated with preclinical atherosclerosis and hemodynamic brain activity patterns across different studies and cohorts; however, what has not been established is whether cardiovascular stress responses reliably link indicators of stressor-evoked brain activity and preclinical atherosclerosis that have been measured in the same individuals. Accordingly, the present study used cross-validation and predictive modeling to test for the first time whether stressor-evoked systolic blood pressure (SBP) responses statistically mediated the association between concurrently measured brain activity and a vascular marker of preclinical atherosclerosis in the carotid arteries.
Methods: 624 midlife adults (aged 28-56 years, 54.
Introduction: Physical activity (PA) has beneficial effects on brain health and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Yet, we know little about whether PA-induced changes to physiological mediators of CVD risk influence brain health and whether benefits to brain health may also explain PA-induced improvements to CVD risk. This study combines neurobiological and peripheral physiological methods in the context of a randomised clinical trial to better understand the links between exercise, brain health and CVD risk.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPulse wave velocity (PWV) is a common measure of arterial stiffness. Non-invasive methods to measure PWV are widely used in biomedical studies of aging and cardiovascular disease, but they are rarely used in psychophysiology. Barriers to wider use include the prohibitive costs of specialized equipment and need for trained technicians (e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between adiposity and cognition by using mean accuracy, mean reaction time, and intraindividual variability (IIV) among preadolescents.
Methods: Children 7 to 9 years old (N = 233, 133 females) underwent dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry and a maximal oxygen consumption test to assess whole-body adiposity and aerobic fitness relative to fat-free mass (VO FF), respectively. Attentional inhibition was assessed by using a modified flanker task.
The present study investigated the effect of a 9-month physical activity (PA) intervention on children's cardiorespiratory fitness levels and neuroelectric indices of conflict monitoring (i.e., error-related negativity, ERN).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe compared changes in academic achievement across 3years between children in elementary schools receiving the Academic Achievement and Physical Activity Across the Curriculum intervention (A+PAAC), in which classroom teachers were trained to deliver academic lessons using moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) compared to a non-intervention control. Elementary schools in eastern Kansas (n=17) were cluster randomized to A+PAAC (N=9, target ≥100min/week) or control (N=8). Academic achievement (math, reading, spelling) was assessed using the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-Third Edition (WIAT-III) in a sample of children (A+PAAC=316, Control=268) in grades 2 and 3 at baseline (Fall 2011) and repeated each spring across 3years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAerobic fitness has previously been related to cognitive control in preadolescents; however, these investigations have generally relied on global measures of performance. Thus, we have little understanding of how aerobic fitness may relate to trial-by-trial modulations in cognitive control. This study utilized congruency sequence effects (CSEs), which characterize how behavior on the current trial is influenced by the previous trial, to investigate the relation of aerobic fitness on varying levels of cognitive control.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe authors used a conditional accuracy function (CAF) method to compute the mean accuracy of multiple reaction time ranges, to investigate the association between aerobic fitness and the utilization of cognitive control strategy during preadolescence. Thirty-eight higher- and lower-fit children were grouped according to their cardiorespiratory capacity (VO) and completed a modified flanker task. Seventeen young adults were recruited as a reference group of maturation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCognitive dysfunction is highly prevalent, disabling, and poorly-managed in persons with multiple sclerosis (MS). Recent evidence suggests that exercise might have beneficial effects on cognition in this population. The current systematic, evidence-based review examined the existing literature on exercise, physical activity, and physical fitness effects on cognition in MS to accurately describe the current status of the field, offer recommendations for clinicians, and identify study-specific and participant-specific characteristics for providing future direction for ongoing MS research.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe 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.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To investigate if changes in aerobic fitness over a 3-year period are associated with modulations in children's cognitive control.
Method: A sample of 2nd/3rd-grade children (N = 290) completed baseline measures in Fall of 2011, and again in Spring of 2014 at the end of 4th/5th grade. Children completed the Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run (PACER) test to measure aerobic capacity, a flanker task to evaluate inhibitory control, and an n-back task to assess working memory.
Objective: To assess whether preadolescents' objectively measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) is associated with cognitive control and academic achievement, independent of aerobic fitness.
Study Design: A sample of 74 children (Meanage = 8.64 years, SD = .
The aim of this investigation was to examine the influence of pediatric sport-related concussion on brain and cognitive function. To do so, we used a between-participants design, measures of executive control, and event-related potentials (ERPs). The findings demonstrate that children with a history of concussion exhibit behavioral deficits in attention, working memory and impulse control, as well as neuroelectric alterations in ERP indices of visual attention (N1), conflict resolution (N2) and attentional resource allocation (P3).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: There is a growing trend of inactivity among children, which may not only result in poorer physical health but also poorer cognitive health. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between aerobic fitness and proactive and reactive cognitive control using a continuous performance task (CPT).
Methods: Forty-eight 9- to 10-year-old children (n = 24 higher fit [HF] and n = 24 lower fit [LF]) performed an AX-CPT requiring them to respond to target cue-probe pairs (AX) or nontarget pairs (AY, BX, BY) under 2 different trial duration conditions, which modulated working memory demands.
This study investigated the influence of concussion history on children's neurocognitive processing. Thirty-two children ages 8-10 years (16 with a concussion history, 16 controls) completed compatible and incompatible conditions of a flanker task while behavioral and neuroelectric data were collected. Relative to controls, children with a concussion history exhibited alterations in the sequential congruency effect, committed more omission errors, and exhibited decreased post-error accuracy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIdentification of health behaviors and markers of physiological health associated with childhood cognitive function has important implications for public health policy targeted toward cognitive health throughout the life span. Although previous studies have shown that aerobic fitness and obesity exert contrasting effects on cognitive flexibility among prepubertal children, the extent to which diet plays a role in cognitive flexibility has received little attention. Accordingly, this study examined associations between saturated fats and cholesterol intake and cognitive flexibility, assessed using a task switching paradigm, among prepubertal children between 7 and 10 years (N = 150).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe present investigation examined the sexual dimorphic patterns of cardiorespiratory fitness to working memory in preadolescent children (age range: 7.7-10.9).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Converging evidence now indicates that aerobic fitness and adiposity are key correlates of childhood cognitive function and brain health. However, the evidence relating dietary intake to executive function/cognitive control remains limited.
Objective: The current study assessed cross-sectional associations between performance on an attentional inhibition task and dietary fatty acids (FAs), fiber, and overall diet quality among children aged 7-9 y (n = 65).
Objective: To assess associations between adiposity and hippocampal-dependent and hippocampal-independent memory forms among prepubertal children.
Study Design: Prepubertal children (age 7-9 years; n = 126), classified as non-overweight (<85th percentile body mass index [BMI]-for-age [n = 73]) or overweight/obese (≥85th percentile BMI-for-age [n = 53]), completed relational (hippocampal-dependent) and item (hippocampal-independent) memory tasks. Performance was assessed with both direct (behavioral accuracy) and indirect (preferential disproportionate viewing [PDV]) measures.
With the increasing prevalence of sedentary behaviors during childhood, a greater understanding of the extent to which excess adiposity and aerobic fitness relate to cognitive health is of increasing importance. To date, however, the vast majority of research in this area has focused on adiposity or fitness, rather than the possible inter-relationship, as it relates to cognition. Accordingly, this study examined the differential associations between body composition, aerobic fitness, and cognitive control in a sample of 204 (96 female) preadolescent children.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To assess the effect of a physical activity (PA) intervention on brain and behavioral indices of executive control in preadolescent children.
Methods: Two hundred twenty-one children (7-9 years) were randomly assigned to a 9-month afterschool PA program or a wait-list control. In addition to changes in fitness (maximal oxygen consumption), electrical activity in the brain (P3-ERP) and behavioral measures (accuracy, reaction time) of executive control were collected by using tasks that modulated attentional inhibition and cognitive flexibility.
Objective: To investigate the relationship between cognitive control and metabolic syndrome (MetS) risk factors in preadolescent children while controlling for aerobic fitness and weight status.
Methods: Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted using aerobic fitness, demographic, and MetS risk-factor variables in a sample of 2nd- and 3rd-grade children (n = 139) who performed a modified version of a flanker task to assess cognitive control. Flanker performance was also compared between children that met no MetS risk-factor criteria (n = 70), and children who met 1 criterion or more (n = 69).
The current study investigated the influence of cardiorespiratory fitness on arithmetic cognition in forty 9-10 year old children. Measures included a standardized mathematics achievement test to assess conceptual and computational knowledge, self-reported strategy selection, and an experimental arithmetic verification task (including small and large addition problems), which afforded the measurement of event-related brain potentials (ERPs). No differences in math achievement were observed as a function of fitness level, but all children performed better on math concepts relative to math computation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEvent-related brain potentials (ERPs) have been instrumental for discerning the relationship between children's aerobic fitness and aspects of cognition, yet language processing remains unexplored. ERPs linked to the processing of semantic information (the N400) and the analysis of language structure (the P600) were recorded from higher and lower aerobically fit children as they read normal sentences and those containing semantic or syntactic violations. Results revealed that higher fit children exhibited greater N400 amplitude and shorter latency across all sentence types, and a larger P600 effect for syntactic violations.
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