ArticleFrontiers in aging neuroscience2016
Aerobic Exercise Intervention, Cognitive Performance, and Brain Structure: Results from the Physical Influences on Brain in Aging (PHIBRA) Study.
Article in Frontiers in aging neuroscience, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 130 papers, 13 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
130 citing papers in PubMed, 13 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 218 citations in OpenAlex.
- Optimal type and dose of exercise for improving executive functions in older adults: a systematic review and Bayesian model-based network meta-analysis of RCTs.BMC geriatrics · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of exercise on executive function in cognitively healthy older adults: a systematic review and three-level meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of exercise interventions on cognitive function in sedentary adults: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- Impact of exercise training on cognitive function in patients with COPD: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2025Pooled it
- Optimal exercise interventions for enhancing cognitive function in older adults: a network meta-analysis.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2025Pooled it
- Aerobic exercise training effects on hippocampal volume in healthy older individuals: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.GeroScience · 2024Pooled it
- Exercise intervention on the brain structure and function of patients with mild cognitive impairment: systematic review based on magnetic resonance imaging studies.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Exergames improve cognitive function in older adults and their possible mechanisms: A systematic review.Journal of global health · 2023Pooled it
- Physical exercise and cognitive training interventions to improve cognition in hemodialysis patients: A systematic review.Frontiers in public health · 2022Pooled it
- A Critical Systematic Review of Current Evidence on the Effects of Physical Exercise on Whole/Regional Grey Matter Brain Volume in Populations at Risk of Neurodegeneration.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2021Pooled it
- Exercise interventions preserve hippocampal volume: A meta-analysis.Hippocampus · 2021Pooled it
- Cerebral changes improved by physical activity during cognitive decline: A systematic review on MRI studies.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2019Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Long-Term Effects of a 5-Year Randomized Controlled Exercise Trial on Brain Volumes and Cognitive Function in Older Adults: A 4-Year Post-Intervention Follow-Up Study.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Trial
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- Working memory improvements following supramaximal high-intensity interval training predicted by increased prefrontal cortex activation and leg strength gains.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2025Trial
- No long-term benefits from resistance training on brain grey matter volumes in active older adults at retirement age.BMC geriatrics · 2025Trial
- Brain-Derived neurotrophic factor and inflammatory biomarkers are unaffected by acute and chronic intermittent hypoxic-hyperoxic exposure in geriatric patients: a randomized controlled trial.Annals of medicine · 2024Trial
- Hippocampal subfield plasticity is associated with improved spatial memory.Communications biology · 2024Trial
70 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
6 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Studies have shown that aerobic exercise has the potential to improve cognition and reduce brain atrophy in older adults. However, the literature is equivocal with regards to the specificity or generality of these effects. To this end, we report results on cognitive function and brain structure from a 6-month training intervention with 60 sedentary adults (64-78 years) randomized to either aerobic training or stretching and toning control training. Cognitive functions were assessed with a neuropsychological test battery in which cognitive constructs were measured using several different tests. Freesurfer was used to estimate cortical thickness in frontal regions and hippocampus volume. Results showed that aerobic exercisers, compared to controls, exhibited a broad, rather than specific, improvement in cognition as indexed by a higher "Cognitive score," a composite including episodic memory, processing speed, updating, and executive function tasks (
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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.