Effects of aerobic exercise intervention on the association between brain functional connectivity and cognition among older adults.
Overview
- Department of Kinesiology, Health Promotion and Recreation, University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76201, USA
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
- Center for Vital Longevity, University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX 75235, USA
- Department of Radiology, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
- Department of Biostatistics, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
- Department of Health and Human Physiology, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
- Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Neuroscience, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
- Iowa Neuroscience Institute, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
Abstract
Chronic aerobic exercise is known to protect against brain and cognitive aging in animals, but it remains unclear whether these benefits are consistent across the span of older adulthood. Using time-varying effect modeling (TVEM) analysis, this study investigated how the associations between changes in cognition and brain network functional connectivity (FC), induced by a 6-month aerobic exercise intervention, vary with age among older adults aged 55 to 80 (n = 107). Participants were divided into two groups based on exercise intensity: moderate-to-vigorous (ModVig group) and light-intensity (Light group). Before and after the intervention, participants completed cognitive tasks measuring executive function (EF) and processing speed (PS) and underwent resting-state fMRI sessions. FC was assessed across large-scale brain networks, including the frontoparietal control (FPCN), default mode (DMN), dorsal attention (DAN), limbic (LN), salience (SN), somatomotor (SMN), and visual network (VN). Change scores for each cognitive task and FC network were calculated by subtracting pre-intervention scores from post-intervention scores. Older adults in the ModVig group demonstrated improved PS performance at ages 58 to 65 and increased FC at ages 67 to 69 in the DAN. When individuals were exposed to ModVig intensity exercise, increases in FC within the FPCN, DMN, and SN were associated with improved EF and PS performance in those in their mid-60s to mid-70s. These findings support the importance of targeting higher moderate-to-vigorous aerobic exercise intensity for interventions, particularly in this age group, to enhance brain and cognitive health.
Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.
Code
The paper links to its data, not to its authors' code: see the Data section.
Tracing map
A tracing map links a paper to the code its authors published: this paper has none, so it has no map.
Data
Datasets cited
Versions
The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.
Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record
Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, pages, dates, 9 authors, 5 keywords, 3 funders, 64 references.
Cite
This paper
Jung, M., Pipoly, M., Madero, B., Oehler, C., Baller, K., Magnotta, V. A., Long, J. D., Pierce, G. L., & Voss, M. W. (2026). Effects of aerobic exercise intervention on the association between brain functional connectivity and cognition among older adults. Aging brain, 10, 100162. https://
BibTeX
@article{jung2026effects
author = {Jung, Myungjin and Pipoly, Marco and Madero, Bryan and Oehler, Chris and Baller, Kelsey and Magnotta, Vincent A and Long, Jeffrey D and Pierce, Gary L and Voss, Michelle W},
title = {{Effects of aerobic exercise intervention on the association between brain functional connectivity and cognition among older adults}},
journal = {Aging brain},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
volume = {10},
pages = {100162},
publisher = {Elsevier},
issn = {2589-9589},
doi = {10.1016/
url = {https://
pmid = {42569364},
pmcid = {PMC13450027}
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
AU - Jung, Myungjin
AU - Pipoly, Marco
AU - Madero, Bryan
AU - Oehler, Chris
AU - Baller, Kelsey
AU - Magnotta, Vincent A
AU - Long, Jeffrey D
AU - Pierce, Gary L
AU - Voss, Michelle W
TI - Effects of aerobic exercise intervention on the association between brain functional connectivity and cognition among older adults
T2 - Aging brain
J2 - Aging Brain
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/
VL - 10
SP - 100162
SN - 2589-9589
PB - Elsevier
DO - 10.1016/
UR - https://
LA - en
ER -
CSL-JSON
{
"id": "10.1016/
"type": "article-journal",
"title": "Effects of aerobic exercise intervention on the association between brain functional connectivity and cognition among older adults",
"container-title": "Aging brain",
"author": [
{
"family": "Jung",
"given": "Myungjin"
},
{
"family": "Pipoly",
"given": "Marco"
},
{
"family": "Madero",
"given": "Bryan"
},
{
"family": "Oehler",
"given": "Chris"
},
{
"family": "Baller",
"given": "Kelsey"
},
{
"family": "Magnotta",
"given": "Vincent A"
},
{
"family": "Long",
"given": "Jeffrey D"
},
{
"family": "Pierce",
"given": "Gary L"
},
{
"family": "Voss",
"given": "Michelle W"
}
],
"container-title-short":
"volume": "10",
"page": "100162",
"DOI": "10.1016/
"PMID": "42569364",
"PMCID": "PMC13450027",
"ISSN": "2589-9589",
"publisher": "Elsevier",
"URL": "https://
"language": "en",
"issued": {
"date-parts": [
[
2026,
7,
28
]
]
}
}
Similar papers
The papers with a page that share the most with this one: the tools found in their code, their categories, datasets, cited references and authors, the rarest counting most.
- [1] doi:10.1002/hbm.70506 [code]
- Revisiting Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuations (ALFF) in Resting-State fMRI: Clarifications and Improvements.Journal: Human brain mappingIn common: fMRI, 8 references
- [2] doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.3003738 [code]
- Altered salience network structure-function integration underlies the decline in cognitive flexibility during aging.Journal: PLoS biologyIn common: fMRI, cognitive, 6 references
- [3] doi:10.1002/hbm.70586 [code]
- Comparison of the Relationships Between Body Size and Cardiorespiratory Fitness With High Frequency Head-Motion Contamination in fMRI.Journal: Human brain mappingIn common: fMRI, 4 references
- [4] doi:10.1038/s41467-026-71151-2 [code]
- Common and distinct neural correlates of social interaction processing and theory of mind in narratives.Journal: Nature communicationsIn common: cognitive, 6 references
- [5] doi:10.1523/eneuro.0370-25.2026 [code]
- Pretraining for Large-Scale Functional Connectome Fingerprinting Supports Generalization and Transfer Learning in Functional Neuroimaging.Journal: eNeuroIn common: fMRI, 6 references
- [6] doi:10.1162/imag.a.1285 [code]
- Individualized mapping of functional brain networks in older adulthood.Journal: Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)In common: fMRI, 5 references
- [7] doi:10.1162/netn.a.547 [code]
- An evaluation of the efficacy of single-echo and multi-echo fMRI denoising strategies.Journal: Network neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)In common: fMRI, 6 references
- [8] doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2026.117454 [code]
- Model-based and model-free valuation signals in the human brain vary markedly in relation to individual differences in behavioral control.Journal: Cell reportsIn common: cognitive, 5 references
- [9] doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.3003755 [code]
- Action information is integrated into entorhinal representations of conceptual space and is reflected in eye movements.Journal: PLoS biologyIn common: cognitive, 5 references
- [10] doi:10.1162/imag.a.1252 [code]
- Does the brain's E:I balance really shape long-range temporal correlations? Lessons learned from 3T MRI.Journal: Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)In common: fMRI, 5 references
Contribute
The authors of this paper can claim it, correct its record and validate its tracing map, and the maintainers of its code (its owner, or a public member of its organization) correct what it says of their repository; anyone signed in can ask for its removal. Every request goes to OSCR's own machine, which answers it; your account page follows them.
Sign in with ORCID to claim this paper as one of its authors, correct its record or validate its tracing map: when the paper's metadata lists your ORCID iD, you are recognized at once. Maintainers of its code: sign in with GitHub, then claim the repository on your account page.
Claim this paper
Correct its record
Say what each link of this record is, remove the ones that are not the paper's, add the ones that are missing. The correction becomes a new version of the record, in its Versions section.
Request its removal
To ask OSCR to remove this record, the copies of its authors' scripts or its tracing map, use the removal request page: signed in, you say who you are, what to remove and why, then review and confirm the request. Published rules decide every request (how).
Discussion, reproductions, activity
Discussion: questions and error reports about this paper and its code, from signed-in readers and its authors. It opens with sign-in.
Reproductions: reports from readers who ran the authors' code: what they reproduced, with which environment, commit and data. It opens with sign-in.
Activity: what happens around this paper: new versions of its record, its map's validation, discussions and reproductions. It opens with sign-in.