ReviewBrain : a journal of neurology2016
Can physical exercise in old age improve memory and hippocampal function?
Review in Brain : a journal of neurology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 160 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
160 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effect of multicomponent exercise in cognitive impairment: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC geriatrics · 2022Pooled it
- A Handful of Details to Ensure the Experimental Reproducibility on the FORCED Running Wheel in Rodents: A Systematic Review.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2021Pooled it
- Hippocampal maintenance after a 12-month physical activity intervention in older adults: The REACT MRI study.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2022Trial
- Neurofeedback training improves episodic and semantic long-term memory performance.Scientific reports · 2021Trial
- Effects of Aerobic Exercise Training on Systemic Biomarkers and Cognition in Late Middle-Aged Adults at Risk for Alzheimer's Disease.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2021Trial
- Effects of low- and high-intensity physical exercise on physical and cognitive function in older persons with dementia: a randomized controlled trial.Alzheimer's research & therapy · 2020Trial
- Nutritional supplementation boosts aerobic exercise effects on functional brain systems.Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2019Trial
- Tai Chi for older adults with chronic multisite pain: a randomized controlled pilot study.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2018Trial
- The effects of an 8-week computerized cognitive training program in older adults: a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.BMC geriatrics · 2018Trial
- Running-Induced Systemic Cathepsin B Secretion Is Associated with Memory Function.Cell metabolism · 2016Trial
- Voluntary Exercise and Hippocampal Memory Enhancement: Decoding the Molecular Blueprint.Journal of molecular neuroscience : MN · 2026Review
- Combined physical and cognitive training in a community aging center serving a socioeconomically vulnerable population: a feasibility study.European review of aging and physical activity : official journal of the European Group for Research into Elderly and Physical Activity · 2026Article
- Maintaining and regaining episodic memory in Alzheimer disease: a circuit-based perspective.Nature reviews. Neurology · 2026Review
- Muscle movement and metabolism: exercise and skeletal muscle as mediators of health-a report from the 26th Annual Harvard Nutrition Obesity Symposium, 2025.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2026Article
- Social Behavior and Neurogenesis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Periodization in Orthobiologics Rehabilitation.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Cognitive-exercise dual-task training delays natural aging/D-galactose-induced cognitive decline in mice.Cellular & molecular biology letters · 2026Article
- Physical Activity, Cognitive Function, and Learning Processes: The Role of Environmental Context.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Differential Associations of Physical Activity and Cognitive Function Among Diverse Older Adult Populations in the NHANES 2011-2014.Journal of aging and health · 2025Article
- Interplay between physical activity, inflammation, and cognitive performance in women with type 2 diabetes: an observational study focused on IL-6 pathway mediators.Diabetology & metabolic syndrome · 2025Article
100 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Physical exercise can convey a protective effect against cognitive decline in ageing and Alzheimer's disease. While the long-term health-promoting and protective effects of exercise are encouraging, it's potential to induce neuronal and vascular plasticity in the ageing brain is still poorly understood. It remains unclear whether exercise slows the trajectory of normal ageing by modifying vascular and metabolic risk factors and/or consistently boosts brain function by inducing structural and neurochemical changes in the hippocampus and related medial temporal lobe circuitry-brain areas that are important for learning and memory. Hence, it remains to be established to what extent exercise interventions in old age can improve brain plasticity above and beyond preservation of function. Existing data suggest that exercise trials aiming for improvement and preservation may require different outcome measures and that the balance between the two may depend on exercise intensity and duration, the presence of preclinical Alzheimer's disease pathology, vascular and metabolic risk factors and genetic variability.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.