Can Motor Training Slow Brain Aging?

A lab-review recently published in GeroPsych: The Journal of Gerontopsychology and Geriatric Psychiatry presents and discusses previous and current research into motor training-induced neuroplasticity by classifying recent work on the basis of two broad aspects: (1) the applied study design (i.e., cross-sectional vs. longitudinal) and (2) the complexity of the motor task subjected to training (i.e., elementary finger movements vs. highly complex physical activity). In the review, the authors demonstrate that training-induced anatomic and functional changes are evident for a wide range of motor tasks and for several age cohorts. Finally, they discuss findings from a lifespan perspective and embed them in the context of research investigating the beneficial effect of motor training-induced neuroplasticity on brain aging.

For the abstract