Determining Whether Tai Chi Chuan Is Related to the Updating Function in Older Adults: Differences Between Practitioners and Controls
Author: Yuan Yang1, Tingting Chen2, Chen Wang3,4, Ji Zhang3,4, Xiaoxia Yuan3,4, Xiaoke Zhong3,4, Shoufu Yan5, Changhao Jiang3,4,5
Affiliation:
1 College of Physical Education and Sports, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
2 School of Education, Beijing Dance Academy, Beijing, China.
3 The Center of Neuroscience and Sports, Capital University of Physical Education and Sports, Beijing, China.
4 Beijing Key Laboratory of Physical Fitness Evaluation and Technical Analysis, Capital University of Physical Education and Sports, Beijing, China.
5 School of Kinesiology and Health, Capital University of Physical Education and Sports, Beijing, China.
Conference/Journal: Front Public Health
Date published: 2022 May 3
Other:
Volume ID: 10 , Pages: 797351 , Special Notes: doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.797351. , Word Count: 280
Background:
Tai Chi Chuan (TCC) is an effective method for delaying cognitive decline in older adults. However, in older adults, the association between long-term TCC practice and working memory updating has not been extensively studied.
Objective:
This cross-sectional study investigated how updating function operationalized via Reaction Times (RTs) and Accuracy Rates (ARs) of N-Back tasks being measured in a laboratory setting is related to long term practice of TCC.
Methods:
Twenty-six healthy elderly people participated in this experiment. According to the duration of time TCC was practiced, 13 subjects in the TCC group had more than 5 years of experience with TCC exercise, and 13 elderly subjects who had not been systematically exposed to mind-body exercise were assigned to the control group. The N-back task was administered to every participant to evaluate the updating function.
Results:
The TCC group had faster RTs than the control group (p < 0.05). For the 1-back task, the TCC group showed faster RTs than the control group; for the 2-back task, the TCC group exhibited faster RTs than the control group. The TCC group had higher ARs than the control group (p < 0.05). For the 1-back task, the TCC group showed higher ARs than the control group; for the 2-back task, the TCC group exhibited higher ARs than the control group.
Conclusions:
Long-term TCC practitioners exhibit a better updating function as compared to controls who did not practice TCC. Thus, our findings suggest that long-term TCC positively influences the updating function of older adults, making it, in turn, an effective mind-body exercise to maintain specific aspects of cognitive functioning.
Keywords: Accuracy Rates (ARs); Reaction Times (RTs); Tai Chi Chuan; older adults; updating function.
PMID: 35592079 PMCID: PMC9110777 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.797351
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