Author: Liu S1, Li L1,2, Liu Z3,4, Guo X1,2,3,5
Affiliation: <sup>1</sup>School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
<sup>2</sup>National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
<sup>3</sup>Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance, School of Physics and Materials Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
<sup>4</sup>School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China.
<sup>5</sup>Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
Conference/Journal: Front Psychol.
Date published: 2019 Jan 30
Other:
Volume ID: 10 , Pages: 91 , Special Notes: doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00091. eCollection 2019. , Word Count: 211
Brain adverse structural changes, especially the atrophy of gray matter, are inevitable in aging. Fortunately, the human brain is plastic throughout its entire life. The current cross-section study aimed to investigate whether long-term Tai Chi exercise could slow gray matter atrophy and explore the possible links among gray matter volume (GMV), long-term Tai Chi experience and emotional stability in a sequential risk-taking task by using voxel-based morphometry. Elders with long-term Tai Chi experience and controls, who were matched to Tai Chi group in age, gender, physical activity level, participated in the study. A T1-weighted multiplanar reconstruction sequence was acquired for each participant. Behaviorally, the Tai Chi group showed higher meditation level, stronger emotional stability and less risk-taking tendency in the sequential risk-taking compared to the control group. Moreover, the results revealed that the GMV of the thalamus and hippocampus were larger in the Tai Chi group compared with the control group. Notably, the GMV of the thalamus was positively correlated with both meditation level and emotional stability. The current study suggested the protective role of long-term Tai Chi exercise at slowing gray matter atrophy, improving the emotional stability and achieving successful aging for elders.
KEYWORDS: Tai Chi; VBM; emotional stability; gray matter volume; hippocampus; thalamus
PMID: 30761046 PMCID: PMC6364563 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00091