{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/90558"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/90558","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Investigating the effects of a 6-month aerobic exercise intervention on brain function and memory in older adults","abstract":"Episodic memory is particularly susceptible to age-related decline. Research in animal models and cross-sectional studies in humans provide evidence that engaging in aerobic exercise may mitigate the effects of aging on memory. Yet, despite abundant evidence from animal literature, many aerobic exercise interventions in humans have failed to demonstrate improvements in learning and memory (Erickson et al., 2011a; Tamura et al., 2014; Ngandu et al., 2015). Further, we know little about how aerobic exercise affects brain function and whether functional changes are behaviorally relevant. In the present study, we investigated the effect of a 6-month aerobic exercise intervention on episodic memory retrieval using fMRI in healthy older adults. Specifically, 137 older adults (60 - 80 years of age) were randomized across four treatment groups: walking, walking plus nutrition, dance, and stretching and toning (active control). Although we found that the walking groups increased cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) relative to the dance and control groups, there were no group differences in episodic memory. Consistent with previous studies, we found no association between change in CRF and change in memory performance. However, we did find that change in CRF, across intervention groups, was positively associated with change in hippocampal activation during recognition 'hits'. Furthermore, increased hippocampal activation was associated with improvements in memory performance. Thus, these results demonstrate a mechanism by which increases in CRF may indirectly relate to memory performance improvements in the absence of a significant behavioral effect.","abstract_html":"Episodic memory is particularly susceptible to age-related decline. Research in animal models and cross-sectional studies in humans provide evidence that engaging in aerobic exercise may mitigate the effects of aging on memory. Yet, despite abundant evidence from animal literature, many aerobic exercise interventions in humans have failed to demonstrate improvements in learning and memory (Erickson et al., 2011a; Tamura et al., 2014; Ngandu et al., 2015). Further, we know little about how aerobic exercise affects brain function and whether functional changes are behaviorally relevant. In the present study, we investigated the effect of a 6-month aerobic exercise intervention on episodic memory retrieval using fMRI in healthy older adults. Specifically, 137 older adults (60 - 80 years of age) were randomized across four treatment groups: walking, walking plus nutrition, dance, and stretching and toning (active control). Although we found that the walking groups increased cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) relative to the dance and control groups, there were no group differences in episodic memory. Consistent with previous studies, we found no association between change in CRF and change in memory performance. However, we did find that change in CRF, across intervention groups, was positively associated with change in hippocampal activation during recognition 'hits'. Furthermore, increased hippocampal activation was associated with improvements in memory performance. Thus, these results demonstrate a mechanism by which increases in CRF may indirectly relate to memory performance improvements in the absence of a significant behavioral effect.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Duffy, Kristin B"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"M.A.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Psychology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Kramer, Arthur"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2016,"date_issued":"2016-07-07T19:54:04Z","date_published":"2016-07-07T19:54:04Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:26:32Z","subjects":["aerobic exercise","memory","Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2016 Kristin Duffy"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/90558","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Kramer, Arthur"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Duffy, Kristin B"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2016-07-07T19:54:04Z","2016-04-19","2016-05"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Psychology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.A."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["aerobic exercise","memory","Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2016 Kristin Duffy"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/90558"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Episodic memory is particularly susceptible to age-related decline. Research in animal models and cross-sectional studies in humans provide evidence that engaging in aerobic exercise may mitigate the effects of aging on memory. Yet, despite abundant evidence from animal literature, many aerobic exercise interventions in humans have failed to demonstrate improvements in learning and memory (Erickson et al., 2011a; Tamura et al., 2014; Ngandu et al., 2015). Further, we know little about how aerobic exercise affects brain function and whether functional changes are behaviorally relevant. In the present study, we investigated the effect of a 6-month aerobic exercise intervention on episodic memory retrieval using fMRI in healthy older adults. Specifically, 137 older adults (60 - 80 years of age) were randomized across four treatment groups: walking, walking plus nutrition, dance, and stretching and toning (active control). Although we found that the walking groups increased cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) relative to the dance and control groups, there were no group differences in episodic memory. Consistent with previous studies, we found no association between change in CRF and change in memory performance. However, we did find that change in CRF, across intervention groups, was positively associated with change in hippocampal activation during recognition 'hits'. Furthermore, increased hippocampal activation was associated with improvements in memory performance. Thus, these results demonstrate a mechanism by which increases in CRF may indirectly relate to memory performance improvements in the absence of a significant behavioral effect.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2016-07-07 without embargo terms","The student, Kristin Duffy, accepted the attached license on 2016-04-18 at 12:35.","The student, Kristin Duffy, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2016-04-18 at 12:44.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2016-04-19 at 12:56.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #9295 on 2016-07-07 at 13:31:01","Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-07T19:54:04Z (GMT). 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Yet, despite abundant evidence from animal literature, many aerobic exercise interventions in humans have failed to demonstrate improvements in learning and memory (Erickson et al., 2011a; Tamura et al., 2014; Ngandu et al., 2015). Further, we know little about how aerobic exercise affects brain function and whether functional changes are behaviorally relevant. In the present study, we investigated the effect of a 6-month aerobic exercise intervention on episodic memory retrieval using fMRI in healthy older adults. Specifically, 137 older adults (60 - 80 years of age) were randomized across four treatment groups: walking, walking plus nutrition, dance, and stretching and toning (active control). Although we found that the walking groups increased cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) relative to the dance and control groups, there were no group differences in episodic memory. Consistent with previous studies, we found no association between change in CRF and change in memory performance. However, we did find that change in CRF, across intervention groups, was positively associated with change in hippocampal activation during recognition 'hits'. Furthermore, increased hippocampal activation was associated with improvements in memory performance. Thus, these results demonstrate a mechanism by which increases in CRF may indirectly relate to memory performance improvements in the absence of a significant behavioral effect.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2016-07-07 without embargo terms","The student, Kristin Duffy, accepted the attached license on 2016-04-18 at 12:35.","The student, Kristin Duffy, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2016-04-18 at 12:44.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2016-04-19 at 12:56.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #9295 on 2016-07-07 at 13:31:01","Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-07T19:54:04Z (GMT). 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