ArticleScientific reports2017
Balance training improves memory and spatial cognition in healthy adults.
Article in Scientific reports, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 61 papers, 3 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.
Exergame Balance Training for Pre Frontal Brain Activity and Executive Functioning in Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment
Human-Prosthetic Interaction: Brain & Technology After Lower-Limb Loss
Who cites it
61 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Evaluating the cognitive impact of exergames on community-dwelling older adults beyond laboratory settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in dementia · 2026Pooled it
- Systematic review and meta-analysis of balance training in children with developmental disorders.PeerJ · 2026Pooled it
- Impaired learning, memory, and extinction in posttraumatic stress disorder: translational meta-analysis of clinical and preclinical studies.Translational psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- Online stimulation of the prefrontal cortex during practice increases motor variability and modulates later cognitive transfer: a randomized, double-blinded and sham-controlled tDCS study.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Long-Term Improvement in Hippocampal-Dependent Learning Ability in Healthy, Aged Individuals Following High Intensity Interval Training.Aging and disease · 2024Trial
- Effects of balance training on cognitive function and activities of daily living in older adult patients with heart failure: a randomized controlled trial.Irish journal of medical science · 2024Trial
- Twelve Weeks of Web-Based Low to Moderate Physical Activity Breaks with Coordinative Exercises at the Workplace Increase Motor Skills but Not Motor Abilities in Office Workers-A Randomised Controlled Pilot Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Trial
- Effects of speed, agility and quickness training programme on cognitive and physical performance in preadolescent soccer players.PloS one · 2022Trial
- Instability Resistance Training improves Working Memory, Processing Speed and Response Inhibition in Healthy Older Adults: A Double-Blinded Randomised Controlled Trial.Scientific reports · 2020Trial
- Adaptation of Running Biomechanics to Repeated Barefoot Running: A Randomized Controlled Study.The American journal of sports medicine · 2019Trial
- Audio motor training improves mobility and spatial cognition in visually impaired children.Scientific reports · 2019Trial
- Effects of barefoot and footwear conditions on learning of a dynamic balance task: a randomized controlled study.European journal of applied physiology · 2018Trial
- Investigation of the effects of balance exercises on visuospatial skills using EEG brain oscillations.Cognitive neurodynamics · 2026Article
- Association between balance ability and memory function in community-dwelling older adults: A cross-sectional study.Medicine · 2026Article
- Improved subjective sleep quality in older adults by enhancing the GABAergic system in the sensorimotor cortex.The Journal of physiology · 2026Article
- Digital Handwriting Kinematics and Physical Performance According to Pentagon-Copy Performance in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: Cross-Sectional Study.JMIR aging · 2026Article
- Cycling Interventions Enhance Executive Function in Children with Autism via Heart Rate Variability Mediation: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Sports medicine - open · 2026Article
- Differential impact of various in-class physical exercise interventions on cognitive function and mathematics achievement in primary school children.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- The feasibility and efficacy of a virtual, symptom-guided aerobic exercise intervention to improve cognition in mild traumatic brain injury: A single-blind pilot randomized control trial with an active comparator group.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Mechanistic research on the vestibular-hippocampal pathway in neurodegenerative diseases: an integrative perspective from molecular to behavioral levels.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
1 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Physical exercise has been shown to improve cognitive functions. However, it is still unknown which type of exercise affects cognition. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that a demanding balance training program improves memory and spatial cognition. Forty healthy participants aged 19-65 years were randomly assigned to either a balance or relaxation training intervention. Each group exercised twice a week for a total of 12 weeks. Pre- and posttests assessed balance performance, cardiorespiratory fitness, memory, spatial cognition, and executive functions. Only the balance group significantly increased in balance performance from pre- to posttest, while cardiorespiratory fitness remained unchanged in both groups. Moreover, the balance group significantly improved in memory and spatial cognition. Effects on executive functions were not observed. These results suggest that balance training is capable of improving particularly memory and spatial cognition. Therefore, an increase in cardiorespiratory fitness does not seem to be necessary to induce beneficial effects of physical exercise on cognition. It might be speculated that stimulating the vestibular system during balance training induces changes of the hippocampus and parietal cortex possibly via direct pathways between the vestibular system and these brain regions.
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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.