Integrated cognitive and physical fitness training enhances attention abilities in older adults

Joaquin A Anguera; Joshua J Volponi; Alexander J Simon; Courtney L Gallen; Camarin E Rolle; Roger Anguera-Singla; Erica A Pitsch; Christian J Thompson; Adam Gazzaley

doi:10.1038/s41514-022-00093-y

Integrated cognitive and physical fitness training enhances attention abilities in older adults

NPJ Aging. 2022 Aug 30;8(1):12. doi: 10.1038/s41514-022-00093-y.

Authors

Joaquin A Anguera^{1

2

3

4}, Joshua J Volponi^{5

6

7}, Alexander J Simon^{5

6

7}, Courtney L Gallen^{5

6

7}, Camarin E Rolle^{5

6

7}, Roger Anguera-Singla^{5

6

7}, Erica A Pitsch⁸, Christian J Thompson⁹, Adam Gazzaley^{10

11

12

13

14}

Affiliations

¹ Neuroscape, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA. Joaquin.anguera@ucsf.edu.
² Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA. Joaquin.anguera@ucsf.edu.
³ Weill Institute for Neurosciences & Kavli Institute for Fundamental Neuroscience, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA. Joaquin.anguera@ucsf.edu.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA. Joaquin.anguera@ucsf.edu.
⁵ Neuroscape, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA.
⁶ Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA.
⁷ Weill Institute for Neurosciences & Kavli Institute for Fundamental Neuroscience, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA.
⁸ Department of Physiology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA.
⁹ Department of Kinesiology, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
¹⁰ Neuroscape, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA. Adam.gazzaley@ucsf.edu.
¹¹ Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA. Adam.gazzaley@ucsf.edu.
¹² Weill Institute for Neurosciences & Kavli Institute for Fundamental Neuroscience, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA. Adam.gazzaley@ucsf.edu.
¹³ Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA. Adam.gazzaley@ucsf.edu.
¹⁴ Department of Physiology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA. Adam.gazzaley@ucsf.edu.

Abstract

Preserving attention abilities is of great concern to older adults who are motivated to maintain their quality of life. Both cognitive and physical fitness interventions have been utilized in intervention studies to assess maintenance and enhancement of attention abilities in seniors, and a coupling of these approaches is a compelling strategy to buttress both cognitive and physical health in a time- and resource-effective manner. With this perspective, we created a closed-loop, motion-capture video game (Body-Brain Trainer: BBT) that adapts a player's cognitive and physical demands in an integrated approach, thus creating a personalized and cohesive experience across both domains. Older adults who engaged in two months of BBT improved on both physical fitness (measures of blood pressure and balance) and attention (behavioral and neural metrics of attention on a continuous performance task) outcome measures beyond that of an expectancy matched, active, placebo control group, with maintenance of improved attention performance evidenced 1 year later. Following training, the BBT group's improvement on the attention outcome measure exceeded performance levels attained by an untrained group of 20-year olds, and showed age-equilibration of a neural signature of attention shown to decline with age: midline frontal theta power. These findings highlight the potential benefits of an integrated, cognitive-physical, closed-loop training platform as a powerful tool for both cognitive and physical enhancement in older adults.