Benefits of Physical Exercise on the Aging Brain: The Role of the Prefrontal Cortex

TLDR

Motor planning in older adults relies on overengagement of the prefrontal cortex, leading to slower movements and responses. The study investigates whether a physically active lifestyle reduces prefrontal cortex overrecruitment during action preparation. High‑resolution EEG was used to compare response times, accuracy, and pre‑motor PFC activity across 130 participants (15–86 yr) grouped by exercise level, with data modeled by linear and polynomial fits. Physically active individuals aged 35–40+ show faster response times and no PFC hyperactivity during motor planning, and moderate‑to‑high exercise benefits middle‑aged adults’ planning, execution, and executive functions by reducing neural overactivity.

Abstract

Motor planning in older adults likely relies on the overengagement of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and is associated with slowness of movement and responses. Does a physically active lifestyle counteract the overrecruitment of the PFC during action preparation? This study used high-resolution electroencephalography to measure the effect of physical exercise on the executive functions of the PFC preceding a visuomotor discriminative task. A total of 130 participants aged 15–86 were divided into two groups based on physical exercise participation. The response times and accuracy and the premotor activity of the PFC were separately correlated with age for the two groups. The data were first fit with a linear function and then a higher order polynomial function. We observed that after 35–40 years of age, physically active individuals have faster response times than their less active peers and showed no signs of PFC hyperactivity during motor planning. The present findings show that physical exercise could speed up the response of older people and reveal that also in middle-aged people, moderate-to-high levels of physical exercise benefits the planning/execution of a response and the executive functions mediated by the PFC, counteracting the neural overactivity often observed in the elderly adults.