TY - JOUR
T1 - Aerobic fitness relates to learning on a virtual Morris Water Task and hippocampal volume in adolescents
AU - Herting, Megan M.
AU - Nagel, Bonnie J.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Addiction Grant ( F31AA019866 –Herting; R01 AA017664 –Nagel), the Dana Foundation (Nagel), the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke ( K08 NS052147 –Nagel), the Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute , the OHSU Tartar Trust Research Fellowship (Herting), American Psychological Association Science Directorate's Dissertation Research Award (Herting), and ARCS Foundation, Inc. Portland Chapter (Herting). A special thanks to Madison Stroup, Khadiya Chinnarath, Jill Waldman, Stephanie Sasse, Jenny Peraza, and Kristen Seghete for their assistance in data collection and data entry. Thank you to Dr. Jacob Raber, Dr. Joel Nigg, and Dr. Diane Elliot for their time and guidance with data analyses, and Dr. Elliot for her help with aerobic fitness testing. Lastly, we would also like to thank Dr. Scott Moffat for sharing his virtual spatial navigation task with us.
PY - 2012/8/1
Y1 - 2012/8/1
N2 - In rodents, exercise increases hippocampal neurogenesis and allows for better learning and memory performance on water maze tasks. While exercise has also been shown to be beneficial for the brain and behavior in humans, no study has examined how exercise impacts spatial learning using a directly translational water maze task, or if these relationships exist during adolescence - a developmental period which the animal literature has shown to be especially vulnerable to exercise effects. In this study, we investigated the influence of aerobic fitness on hippocampal size and subsequent learning and memory, including visuospatial memory using a human analogue of the Morris Water Task, in 34 adolescents. Results showed that higher aerobic fitness predicted better learning on the virtual Morris Water Task and larger hippocampal volumes. No relationship between virtual Morris Water Task memory recall and aerobic fitness was detected. Aerobic fitness, however, did not relate to global brain volume or verbal learning, which might suggest some specificity of the influence of aerobic fitness on the adolescent brain. This study provides a direct translational approach to the existing animal literature on exercise, as well as adds to the sparse research that exists on how aerobic exercise impacts the developing human brain and memory.
AB - In rodents, exercise increases hippocampal neurogenesis and allows for better learning and memory performance on water maze tasks. While exercise has also been shown to be beneficial for the brain and behavior in humans, no study has examined how exercise impacts spatial learning using a directly translational water maze task, or if these relationships exist during adolescence - a developmental period which the animal literature has shown to be especially vulnerable to exercise effects. In this study, we investigated the influence of aerobic fitness on hippocampal size and subsequent learning and memory, including visuospatial memory using a human analogue of the Morris Water Task, in 34 adolescents. Results showed that higher aerobic fitness predicted better learning on the virtual Morris Water Task and larger hippocampal volumes. No relationship between virtual Morris Water Task memory recall and aerobic fitness was detected. Aerobic fitness, however, did not relate to global brain volume or verbal learning, which might suggest some specificity of the influence of aerobic fitness on the adolescent brain. This study provides a direct translational approach to the existing animal literature on exercise, as well as adds to the sparse research that exists on how aerobic exercise impacts the developing human brain and memory.
KW - Adolescence
KW - Exercise
KW - Hippocampus
KW - Neuroimaging
KW - Spatial memory
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U2 - 10.1016/j.bbr.2012.05.012
DO - 10.1016/j.bbr.2012.05.012
M3 - Article
C2 - 22610054
AN - SCOPUS:84862540061
SN - 0166-4328
VL - 233
SP - 517
EP - 525
JO - Behavioural Brain Research
JF - Behavioural Brain Research
IS - 2
ER -