1. AN ANALYSIS OF EXERCISE ON THE AGING BRAIN: MRI TECHNOLOGY REVEALS BENEFITS Meghan McDermott RISE Science Seminar Mentor: Dr. Evans

2. DEVELOPMENT OF THE BRAIN As we age and go throughout elementary school to high school, our brains rapidly develop structural and functional circuitry that support higher-level cognitive abilities, such as our ability to multi-task and resist distraction For middle age individuals memorization skills and perceptual speed both start to decline in young adulthood, verbal abilities, spatial reasoning, simple math abilities and abstract reasoning skills all improve. Meanwhile for elderly individuals certain parts of the brain shrink, especially the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus, which are two areas important to learning, memory, and planning.

4. PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, EXERCISE, OR PHYSICAL FITNESS Physical Activity: any bodily movement that results in muscular contractions and increases energy expenditure above that which is used during rest Exercise: the regular or repeated use of a faculty or bodily organ Physical Fitness: fitness is the ability to perform moderate to vigorous levels of physical activity without undue fatigue and the capability of maintaining such ability throughout life Brain Fitness: the ability to perform daily cognitive tasks without undue mental fatigue or memory impairment and the capability to maintain cognitive abilities throughout life

5. EXERCISE: WHAT TYPE IS MOST BENEFICIAL Aerobic Training has been seen to increase executive functions of the brain such as multi-tasking, planning, and inhibition (which are all largely supported by the prefrontal cortex). Several fMRI studies have examined the effects of aerobic training on brain function. Studies have shown that aerobically trained older adults had greater increases in brain activity in the frontal and parietal cortices and brain areas involved in processes important for task performance. Aerobically trained adults also had greater reduction in anterior cingulate cortex activation, a brain area involved in conflict and error monitoring. Functional MRI studies have also shown that more aerobically fit children have larger P300 waves during information processing. P300 waves are a type of event related potential associated with humans abilities to effectively focus attention.

6. WHAT TO MEASURE VO 2 Max: the maximum amount of oxygen that an individual can utilize during intense or maximal exercise. Although it varies greatly by individual and training programs, in general VO2 max is the highest at age 20 and decreases nearly 30 percent by age 65. Heart Rate Training Stimulus Zone: rate at which your heart beats 55 years : Target HR Zone: 83-140 beats per minute Average Max HR: 165 beats per minute 60 years Target HR Zone: 80-136 beats per minute Average Max HR: 160 beats per minute 65 years Target HR Zone: 78-132 beats per minute Average Max HR: 155 beats per minute

7. THE BRAIN THROUGHOUT OUR LIFESPAN Research indicates that childhood physical inactivity, and subsequently reduced aerobic fitness, is associated with poorer academic achievement and lower performance on standard neuropsychological tests In a recent study done by Chapman et al conducted tests of cognitive performance and found that the physical training group (in contrast to those without any sort of physical training) significantly improved over the course of their training sessions in immediate and delayed text-level memory. Chapman et al also determined that physical activity increased brain function (resting regional CBF), cognition (immediate/delayed memory), and cardiovascular fitness (VO2max). In a study examining the Dynamic Visual Acuity of younger and older athletes / non athletes practicing martial arts, the dynamic visual acuity of the young karate athletes was greater than the non athletes. Similarly, the judo and karate older athletes showed better dynamic visual acuity than the older non- active adults. While rate of decline in brain mass with aging is highly individualized, it is often stated that the “normal” brain gradually decreases in size 10-15% with aging, and this shrinkage becomes particularly evident in individuals ranging from 80 to 89 years old.

8. RESULTS: WHAT MRI TECHNOLOGY HAS SHOWN US (AS FAR AS I KNOW) In order to use Functional MRI (fMRI) to determine the effect of exercise on the aging brain the BOLD response is necessary. For exercise studies, the obvious hurdle to overcome is movement as most movement causes disruption in the scanning process and poor images are created. Cognitive psychology has forged numerous research pathways using fMRI with BOLD contrasts to determine regions of activation in the brain during various cognitive tasks, this has not been the case with exercise training interventions In this case, fMRI used with BOLD contrasts have shown increased activation in lateral fronto-parietal regions which seems to be associated with aerobic fitness. Recently four studies have been published that have used an aerobic exercise and structural MRI to evaluate he effect of exercise on the aging brain. Each of these studies recruited inactive subjects based on the assumption that improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness associated with aerobic exercise are most likely to occur in these types of subjects. All of the intervention studies in older adults reveal that aerobic exercise positively impacts brain structure!!!!!!!

10. QUESTIONS? Citations: Belsky, D. W., Caspi, A., Israel, S., Blumenthal, J. A., Poulton, R., & Moffitt, T. E. (2015). Cardiorespiratory fitness and cognitive function in midlife: Neuroprotection or neuroselection? Annals of neurology, 77(4), 607-617. Chapman, S. B., Aslan, S., Spence, J. S., DeFina, L. F., Keebler, M. W., Didehbani, N., & Lu, H. (2013). Shorter term aerobic exercise improves brain, cognition, and cardiovascular fitness in aging. Frontiers in aging neuroscience, 5. Hotz, R. E. (2011, July 26). Brain Shrinkage: It's Only Human. Retrieved March 18, 2016, from http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424053111903999904576468224286877908 Heyward, H. Advanced Fitness Assessment and Exercise Prescription, Fifth Edition, 2006, Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Kramer, A. F., Colcombe, S. J., McAuley, E., Eriksen, K. I., Scalf, P., Jerome, G. J.,... Webb, A. G. (2003). Enhancing brain and cognitive function of older adults through fitness training. Journal of Molecular Neuroscience, 20(3), 213-221. Marks, B. L., & Katz, L. M. (2012). MRI Techniques to Evaluate Exercise Impact on the Aging Human Brain: INTECH Open Access Publisher. Muiños, M., & Ballesteros, S. (2015). Sports can protect dynamic visual acuity from aging: A study with young and older judo and karate martial arts athletes. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 77(6), 2061-2073. Raine, L. B., Lee, H. K., Saliba, B. J., Chaddock-Heyman, L., Hillman, C. H., & Kramer, A. F. (2013). The influence of childhood aerobic fitness on learning and memory. PloS one, 8(9), e72666. Voss, M. W., Nagamatsu, L. S., Liu-Ambrose, T., & Kramer, A. F. (2011). Exercise, brain, and cognition across the life span. Journal of applied physiology, 111(5), 1505-1513. Williams, H. G., Pfeiffer, K. A., O'Neill, J. R., Dowda, M., McIver, K. L., Brown, W. H., & Pate, R. R. (2008). Motor skill performance and physical activity in preschool children. Obesity, 16(6), 1421-1426.