Executive Function Interventions Flashcards
What non-invasive therapeutic interventions did we consider in regards to improving executive functioning (2)?
Physical activity
and Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS)
What did we find out in regards to brain structure and physical exercise?
Structural MRI data links higher fitness to higher brain volume. The brain regions that atrophy most with healthy aging also show the greatest advantage in relation to aerobic fitness.
Specifically, blocks walked positively correlated with grey matter volume in the regions which included prefrontal cortex.
What did we find out in regards to cerebral blood flow and physical exercise?
Aerobic fitness is associated with elevated levels of resting cerebral blood flow across the adult life span.
What did we find out in regards to cerebral blood flow regulation and physical exercise?
Aerobically trained older adults show higher brain blood flow responsiveness to increases in CO2.
The same thing was found in young adults.
What did we find out in regards to the flanker task and physical exercise? Part 1 (not a controlled trial)
Compared to low fit, high fit healthy older adults showed smaller flanker effects and differences in fMRI activation levels.
But remember that this was about fitness, not physical exercise and fitness depends on other things too (e.g. genetics).
What did we find out in regards to the flanker task and physical exercise? Part 2 (a controlled trial)
A randomised controlled trial –> Older adults were randomly assigned to an aerobic exercise group or a stretching and toning group –> - The findings from the fitness study were replicated in the aerobic exercise group (after the intervention they showed smaller flanker effects and differences in fMRI activation levels).
What was the association between stroop effect and aerobic fitness?
Higher levels of fitness were associated with faster RTs and fewer errors for the most challenging condition of the Stroop task (Incongruent Eligible Condition).
If you make a comparison to the fMRI data; higher level of activation associated with higher fitness level and more activation with the more difficult task.
What was the association between oxygen availability and physical activity?
Chronically active vs. inactive maintained higher anterior frontal oxygenated haemoglobin during engagement in visuomotor tasks.
What two possible causal pathways were suggested in regards to physical activity and executive functioning?
- chronic physical activity increases anterior frontal oxygenated haemoglobin which improves cognitive functioning.
- Frequent physical activity increases CBF responsiveness to changes in CO2 concentrations, which in turn improves cognitive functioning.
What is tDCS? How does it work?
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation. Really low current passes between electrodes –> not only stimulating beneath the electrode but also between electrodes, so you’re better to straddle the area of interest.
It’s also not firing the neurons directly just making them more excitable and more likely to fire.
How might tDCS be helpful in increasing cognitive performance?
TDCS has been shown to improve working memory performance, as evidenced by higher 2‐back and/or 3‐ back accuracy rates in healthy young and older adults, Parkinson’s Disease patients and Major Depression patients. So it may be an effective cognitive therapy.
What are two issues with tDCS as a therapy?
- Lot’s of variation between people; anatomical differences
- Improved performance during stimulation but you want longevity –> some studies have shown an after effect but somewhat limited
