White matter microstructure mediates the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and spatial working memory in older adults.

ABSTRACT: White matter structure declines with advancing age and has been associated with a decline in memory and executive processes in older adulthood. Yet, recent research suggests that higher physical activity and fitness levels may be associated with less white matter degeneration in late life, although the tract-specificity of this relationship is not well understood. In addition, these prior studies infrequently associate measures of white matter microstructure to cognitive outcomes, so the behavioral importance of higher levels of white matter microstructural organization with greater fitness levels remains a matter of speculation. Here we tested whether cardiorespiratory fitness (VO2max) levels were associated with white matter microstructure and whether this relationship constituted an ind

SUBMITTER: Oberlin LE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4826637 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature