Experimental Aging Research最新文献

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder of the basal ganglia that affects approximately 1.5% of adults over the age of 65. Exercise and physical activity are known to complement dopamine replacement therapy.

Methods: A total of 90(68.4 ± 9.72 years) patients with mild and moderate PD participated in a randomized cross-over study. This trial tested that YI JING JING(YJJ) training of 6 months is superior to the control group (CG) at improving the cognition, sleep quality and functional mobility in patients with mild and moderate PD.

Results: Group × Time interaction Effect :A significant interaction UPDRS-part III (F = 11.452, p <.001, η² = 0.119), DS(PDSS-2) (F = 14.672, p <.001,η² = 0.147),PDSS-2 Total (F = 24.813, p <.001, η² = 0.226), BBS (Balance) (F = 32.764, p <.001, η² = 0.278), suggests that the exercise intervention (YJJG) led to differential changes compared to the control group across variables. Time effect: Significant changes occurred from pretest to posttest regardless of YJJG UPDRS-part III (F = 18.327, p <.001 η² = 0.177), DS(PDSS-2) (F = 10.836, p = .002 η² = 0.112), PDSS-2 Total (F = 36.152, p <.001 η² = 0.298), BBS (Balance) (F = 42.865, p <.001 η² = 0.335) reflecting general temporal improvements or declines. There were not significant differences(p > .0038, η² <0.05) from pretest to posttest in these 13 variables of CG.

Conclusion: This study showed the efficacy of implementing the YJJ exercise program for 6 months on the sleep quality, motor function and balance in patients with mild to moderate PD.

Objectives: The concept of healthy aging and its impact on spatial navigation and memory ability is well-established in the literature. However, the neural basis of these age-related changes is not well understood. There is limited research that examines the impact of healthy aging on the neural mechanisms underlying spatial memory retrieval for memories encoded recently (24 hours ago) compared to those encoded remotely (1 month ago).

Methods: This study explores the neural basis of recent and remote spatial memory during navigation in older (n = 16) compared to younger adults (n = 30) using electroencephalography (EEG) and a virtual Morris water task.

Results: Our results suggest that though recent and remote memories were poorer in older compared to younger adults, older adults' remote memories were preserved. We showed reduced high-frequency oscillations in older adults for recent and remote conditions compared to younger adults. Specifically, older adults showed decreased activation at 15-30 Hz (beta) as well as failure to increase activation at 30-40 Hz (gamma) compared to younger adults. While remote memory evoked increases in delta and theta (2-7 Hz) frequencies compared to recent memories in both age groups, older adults showed significantly less increase.

Discussion: The results are discussed in terms of age-related compensation for spatial navigation skills in healthy aging.

Background: Motor learning in older adults may be influenced by both practice structure and individual personality traits. Contextual interference (CI) theory and personality-based arousal regulation accounts suggest that introversion and extraversion could moderate the effects of blocked versus random practice.

Objective: To examine whether personality traits (introversion vs. extraversion) moderate the impact of practice structure (blocked vs. random) on motor learning in older women.

Methods: Forty-eight women (mean age = 68 years) were classified as introverted or extroverted. Participants completed golf putting tasks under either blocked or random practice schedules. Performance was assessed across four phases: pretest, acquisition, transfer, and retention.

Results: Extroverted women practicing under random schedules demonstrated superior performance in delayed transfer compared to other groups. Conclusions: Findings diverge from evidence in younger adults, suggesting that aging may alter the interaction between personality and CI. Results highlight the importance of lifespan-sensitive approaches to individualized motor learning interventions.

Background: The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of anxiolytics, antidepressants, and hypnotics on working memory in individuals who use these drugs to alleviate minor symptoms of anxiety, depression, and insomnia, respectively, but who are not affected by any major disease.

Methods: In a sample of 1656 participants between the ages of 21 and 80 years, 87 had exclusively taken anxiolytics, 88 had taken only antidepressants, and 36 had taken only hypnotics but had not taken them for at least six months. These groups were compared with individuals who had never taken any of these medications and were matched by sex, age, and years of education. Working memory was examined in the spatial and verbal domains at two levels of difficulty.

Results: Spatial working memory performance was observed to be lower in anxiolytic and antidepressant users compared with nonusers. In addition, we observed that longer and more frequent uses of anxiolytics, antidepressants, and hypnotics resulted in worsened spatial working memory.

Conclusions: The effects of these drugs on spatial working memory occur across all ages in the adult lifespan. Spatial working memory is crucial for performing numerous everyday activities and preserving autonomy.

Background: Older adults often show memory deficits, but these deficits can be reduced when newly learned information is consistent with one's schemas (prior knowledge). For example, research has found similar memory performance for young and older adults when remembering realistic market-value grocery items and prices; however, age-related differences are more prominent for overpriced items, which are inconsistent with schemas. In the present work, we examined how labelling items as free may impact memory for prices, and if curiosity may influence how younger and older adults remember price information. Experiment 1 investigated young and older adults' memory for free, market-priced, and overpriced items. In Experiment 2, participants' curiosity for learning the items and their prices was investigated to see if curiosity can be predictive of performance accuracy for information that is consistent and inconsistent with their schemas.

Methods: In Experiment 1, participants were shown grocery store items and were tested on the exact prices of these items and the categories they belong to. In Experiment 2, participants were first shown items and asked how curious they were to learn the price of the item. Participants were then shown the grocery item's price and category label, and were later tested on the associations of these items.

Results: Across both experiments, older adults were more accurate in recalling market-priced and free items compared to overpriced items. In contrast, younger adults did not show significant differences across price conditions. In Experiment 2, state curiosity significantly predicted accuracy in recalling exact prices, with this relationship being particularly strong among older adults.

Conclusion: Findings suggest that older adults benefit more from schematic support when remembering price information and that state curiosity enhances memory accuracy, especially for older adults. Schematic support and state curiosity may help mitigate age-related memory deficits.

Background: Young and older adults are often victimized by various forms of scams and fraud. However, little research has been conducted on how a scam prevention intervention may impact young and older adults' accuracy and confidence in determining the legitimacy of emails. The present study investigated young and older adults' accuracy and confidence, as well as potential contributing factors to scam susceptibility, before and after engaging with one of three intervention activities: control (no intervention), read-only (read common scam qualities), or interactive (interactively learned scam qualities in emails).

Method: Young and older adult participants were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions. Before and after the intervention, participants evaluated a series of legitimate and scam emails, indicating whether each email was legitimate or a scam. Participants also rated their confidence in their accuracy, the personal relevance of each email, and their curiosity about engaging further with the email.

Results: Both age groups showed no difference in sensitivity when determining the legitimacy of the emails before and after the interventions. Importantly, both age groups in the read-only and interactive conditions showed a bias toward labeling emails as scams, indicating a generally cautious approach.

Conclusions: Although the interventions did not improve detection sensitivity, participants were more cautious when evaluating emails. This tendency may help reduce vulnerability to scams and fraud and suggests that interventions can encourage greater caution when evaluating suspicious emails across age groups.

Purpose: Rhythmic auditory cueing (RAC) can enhance gait performance. However, little is known about its effect in people with cognitive impairment. The aim of this review was to describe, in studies of people with cognitive impairment: 1) the medical conditions and cognitive stages studied; 2) the RAC protocols and gait variables measured; and 3) whether cognitive stage or RAC protocols have differing effects on gait.

Materials and methods: Search terms included older age, cognitive impairment, auditory cueing, and gait. Three databases (PubMed, Embase via Ovid, Web of Science) were searched.

Results: Eight studies (n = 204 participants) were included. The diagnoses were Alzheimer's dementia, unspecified dementia, Parkinson's disease and atypical parkinsonian disorders. Cognitive stages ranged from mild cognitive impairment to late-stage dementia. RAC was commonly by metronome or music, at a preferred cadence tempo. The most common gait variables were speed, step length and cadence. Electronic walkways, accelerometers, or stopwatches were the most common measurement tools. The effect of RAC on gait across cognitive stages and diagnoses was mixed, with most studies reporting worse, or no change, in gait.

Conclusion: Cognitive impairment may influence the effect of RAC on gait. Studies with larger samples and a range of cognitive stages are needed.

Purpose: Aging is a gradual alteration in cells and tissues' homeostasis mechanisms. Oxidative stress is an important contributor to aging. This study investigated the effect of cedrol a natural sesquiterpene on rats' memory and oxidative stress markers including malondialdehyde (MDA) and total thiol levels in the hippocampus, cortex, liver, heart, and kidneys of rats and their liver enzymes.

Methods: Twenty-month-old rats were divided into three groups: cedrol 10 mg/kg, cedrol 5 mg/Kg, and saline treatment for 30 consecutive days. A passive avoidance test was performed in the last 3 days. A group of young 8-week rats was also treated with saline as the control group.

Results: The performance of old rats in passive avoidance test memory was impaired compared to young rats. Old rats had increased levels of MDA and decreased total thiol in mentioned tissues compared to young rats. Besides, the AST and ALT liver enzyme levels were higher in old than young rats. Administration of cedrol in old rats improved their performance in the passive avoidance test, decreased the level of MDA, increased total thiol levels, and decreased AST and ALT liver enzymes.

Conclusions: Based on the results, cedrol may probably alleviate aging consequences in rats by reducing oxidative stress.

Objective: This work thoroughly evaluated the association between cognitive status, mental disorders, and semantic verbal fluency (SVF).

Methods: Correlations between mental disorders, cognitive status, and demographic and medical history of 74 participants were analyzed. The SVF temporal course per 15-second period of a five-category task was assessed.

Results: Eight SVF principal components, led by a component consisting of the first fifteen-second periods (P1), were extracted. Regression analyses for cognitive status showed that the P1 component was the best predictor.

Conclusion: Thus, the words articulated during the first fifteen seconds of the SVF task may improve the prognosis and diagnosis of cognitive decline.

Background: Appearance aging stereotypes are prevalent in societal contexts. However, the effects of appearance aging stereotypes on psychological constructs, particularly appearance-related bodily self-consciousness in older adults, remain underexplored. This study explored the effect of appearance aging stereotypes on sense of body ownership in older adults and the mediating role of self-objectification.

Methods: In Experiment 1, older participants were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions: a stereotype activation condition (n = 39), in which participants stared at themselves in a mirror for 5 minutes and then wrote down the appearance-related shortcomings of older adults; and a control condition (n = 39), in which participants spent 5 minutes viewing a landscape image and wrote down adjectives to describe it. Subsequently, all participants completed the Rubber Hand Illusion task to measure their sense of body ownership. In Experiment 2, following the same experimental manipulations as in Experiment 1, older participants in the stereotype activation group (n = 36) and the control group (n = 36) completed assessments of state self-objectification and sense of body ownership.

Results: Older adults in the stereotype activation group exhibited a lower level of sense of body ownership compared to those in the control group (Experiments 1 and 2). In addition, state self-objectification mediated the effect of appearance aging stereotypes on sense of body ownership (Experiment 2).

Conclusion: Our findings indicate that appearance aging stereotypes are risk factors for sense of body ownership in older adults, providing new insights into understanding of body ownership, and enrich theories of aging stereotypes.