ArticleThe journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences2023
Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Muscular Strength Do Not Predict Social Cognitive Capacity in Older Age.
Article in The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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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
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 2 citations in OpenAlex.
- Divergent associations of estimated cardiorespiratory fitness with cognitive trajectories in Chinese and U.S. middle-aged and older adults: A descriptive cross-national comparison from CHARLS and HRS.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Observational
- Seeing Through Other Eyes: How Language Experience and Cognitive Abilities Shape Theory of Mind.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Increased arterial stiffness is associated with poorer social cognition in older age.Scientific reports · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesSocial cognitive function often declines in older age but the mechanisms underlying these declines are not completely clear. Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and muscular strength are positively associated with broader cognitive function in older adults, yet surprisingly, no study has examined whether a similar relationship exists between CRF or muscular strength and social cognition in older age.
methodsWe assessed whether higher CRF and muscular strength were associated with enhanced social cognitive function in a sample of fifty older adults (Mage = 70.08, standard deviation = 3.93). Participants completed a gold-standard cardiopulmonary exercise test to assess CRF, an isometric handgrip strength test to index muscular strength, and validated measures of social cognition to index emotion perception and theory of mind (ToM).
resultsThe results showed that CRF and muscular strength did not explain any unique variance in older adults' social cognitive performance. Bayesian analyses confirmed that the evidence for the null hypothesis was moderate for all tested relationships, except for the relationship between CRF and cognitive ToM where the evidence for the null was anecdotal. DISCUSSION: This study has provided the first evidence to suggest that CRF and muscular strength-two important modifiable lifestyle factors-are not associated with social cognition in healthy older adults. However, replication studies are now needed to cross-validate these findings and to clarify whether any moderating variables may be important for understanding the relationship between fitness and social cognition in older age.
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Registered trials
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