High intensity aerobic exercise improves information processing and motor performance in individuals with Parkinson's disease.

High intensity aerobic exercise improves information processing and motor performance in individuals with Parkinson's disease. Exp Brain Res. 2021 Jan 04;: Authors: Rosenfeldt AB, Koop MM, Fernandez HH, Alberts JL Abstract Parkinson's disease (PD) adversely affects information processing and motor performance. The impact of aerobic exercise on modifying the deleterious effects of PD underlying information and motor control processes is not well established. The primary aim of this project was to determine the effects of an 8-week high intensity exercise intervention on information processing and movement execution in individuals with PD. A secondary aim sought to understand the effects of antiparkinsonian medication relative to exercise on motor control processes. Data were collected at baseline (on- and off-medication) and upon completion of the exercise intervention (off-medication). Information processing and motor execution were evaluated via simple and choice reaction time paradigms (SRT and CRT) performed on a mobile device. Neither exercise nor medication impacted information processing or movement execution under the SRT paradigm. However, under CRT, exercise improved movement execution and information processing: total time was significantly reduced from 814 to 747 ms (p < 0.001), reaction time improved from 543 to 502 ms (p < 0.001), movement time improved from 270 to 246 ms (p = 0.01), and movement vel...
Source: Experimental Brain Research - Category: Neuroscience Authors: Tags: Exp Brain Res Source Type: research