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Beneficial effects of foreign language learning and aerobic exercise on dentate gyrus volume and mnemonic discrimination in healthy older adults: Results from a randomized controlled trial.

Code ↔ Paper

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The 1 match
  1. [1] § Results › Baseline subiculum volume predicts change in MDT-OS performance › Demographic factors and cardiovascular fitness do not explain bivariate relationships ↔ code/3_hc-md_bivariate-LCSM.R, lines 345–413 · score 0.52 · pseudo LCSM, vo2peak, CFI, RMSEA, bivariate, Fit

Paper

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The authors' code

R · 417 lines · 26 KB · no license · 1 match

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Overview

  1. Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
  2. Clinical Cognitive Neuroscience, DZNE German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Magdeburg, Germany
  3. Department of Psychology, University of Trier, Trier, Germany
  4. Friede Springer Cardiovascular Prevention Center, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
  5. Department of Psychology, MSB Medical School Berlin, Berlin, Germany
  6. Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, Berlin, Germany
  7. Lise Meitner Group for Environmental Neuroscience, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
  8. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Clinic Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
  9. Institute for Mind, Brain and Behavior, HMU Health and Medical University, Potsdam, Germany
Journal: Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.), volume 4, article IMAG.a.1306
Dates: received 18 September 2024; accepted 26 June 2026; published online 24 July 2026
Type: Research article · Language: English
License: CC BY
Identifiers: DOI 10.1162/imag.a.1306 · PMID 42516172 · PMCID PMC13403954 · OpenAlex W7167090708
Open access: diamond, a free copy (OpenAlex)
Status: code verified
Categories: human (organism), healthy (population)
Methods: Preprocessing, Statistics
Keywords: healthy aging, aerobic exercise, language learning, hippocampal subfields, mnemonic discrimination
Topic: Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism (Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuroscience), according to OpenAlex
Citations: not cited yet (Europe PMC); 110 references in the paper

Abstract

Protecting hippocampal structures, such as the cornu ammonis 3 and dentate gyrus (CA3/DG), that are tied to mnemonic discrimination could be a promising approach to mitigate the age-related decline in episodic memory. This study examines the potential benefits of cognitive and physical engagement, specifically language learning and moderate aerobic exercise, for maintaining hippocampal subfield integrity and memory performance. In a randomized controlled trial involving 142 healthy older adults (aged 63–78 years), we investigated the effects of a 6-month regime comprising language learning, aerobic exercise, and their combination. Participants were assigned to one of four groups: an active control, language-only, exercise-only, or combined language and exercise group. CA3/DG volume remained stable in the language-only and combined groups, while the non-language groups showed a significantly greater decrease in volume, suggesting that foreign language learning may protect against normal aging-related CA3/DG volume loss. Comparatively, the exercise-only and combined groups showed significant improvements in mnemonic discrimination performance, while the non-exercise groups did not, indicating that aerobic exercise can improve this aspect of memory in older adults. Notably, the combined group was the only group to exhibit both preserved CA3/DG volume and improved mnemonic discrimination. No evidence for a boosting effect of the combined intervention on either outcome was observed. This suggests that, while the effects of language learning and aerobic exercise may be independent at the level of measured outcomes, they provide complementary benefits when combined. Finally, the initial volume of the subiculum was found to predict changes in mnemonic discrimination performance across all groups, indicating that this region may play a potential role in episodic memory changes over time. Contrary to our expectations, changes in hippocampal subfields were not directly associated with changes in mnemonic discrimination. In conclusion, this study highlights the potentially separate roles of foreign language learning and aerobic exercise in enhancing aspects of episodic memory in older adults; future research may address whether their combination may yield broader functional benefits than either intervention alone.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Repository

Its files are read in the Code ↔ Paper reader above, with 1 match between paragraphs and lines of code.

OSF mz83w

License: none: the authors keep all their rights
State: the link answers, verified on 27 September 2026
Evidence: files inventoried
Languages: R (3)
Size: 15 files, 3 scripts
Software Heritage: not checked
Found in: “Data and Code Availability”
Holds: README
Not found: license file, CITATION.cff, environment file, tests, continuous integration, documentation
Tools: tidyverse (3 files)
Availability: 1 check, the latest on 27 September 2026: the link answers (HTTP 200)
  • 27 September 2026: the link answers (HTTP 200)
4 files, to read at the source

This repository has no license: its authors keep all rights. Read it at the source.

The paper's code and data availability statement is in the Data section.

Tracing map

Proposed by the machine: these links were found in the paper and verified at the source, without human review. The map will receive a Zenodo DOI once one of the paper's authors has validated it with their ORCID.

What the map holds:

  • 1 repository of the authors' code, each at its verified commit, with its license and how the link was found in the paper;
  • 3 scripts, each with its path and the digest of its content;
  • 1 match between paragraphs of the paper and lines of the code (method lexical-v1);
  • neither the text of the paper nor the code itself.

Its JSON (tracing-map.json) is deposited on Zenodo with its DOI once the map is validated.

Data

No dataset and no data link were found in the paper.

Data and Code Availability

Data and code are available on OSF (view-only link: https://osf.io/mz83w/?view_only=2c197ee180604db3aaae59808dd21044).

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

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Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, pages, dates, 8 authors, 5 keywords, 1 funder, 107 references.

Cite

This paper

Polk, S. E., Fandakova, Y., Berron, D., Düzel, S., Brandmaier, A. M., Kühn, S., Lindenberger, U., & Wenger, E. (2026). Beneficial effects of foreign language learning and aerobic exercise on dentate gyrus volume and mnemonic discrimination in healthy older adults: Results from a randomized controlled trial. Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.), 4, IMAG.a.1306. https://doi.org/10.1162/imag.a.1306

BibTeX

@article{polk2026beneficial,
author = {Polk, Sarah E. and Fandakova, Yana and Berron, David and Düzel, Sandra and Brandmaier, Andreas M. and Kühn, Simone and Lindenberger, Ulman and Wenger, Elisabeth},
title = {{Beneficial effects of foreign language learning and aerobic exercise on dentate gyrus volume and mnemonic discrimination in healthy older adults: Results from a randomized controlled trial}},
journal = {Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
volume = {4},
pages = {IMAG.a.1306},
publisher = {MIT Press},
issn = {2837-6056},
doi = {10.1162/imag.a.1306},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1162/imag.a.1306},
pmid = {42516172},
pmcid = {PMC13403954}
}

RIS

TY - JOUR
AU - Polk, Sarah E.
AU - Fandakova, Yana
AU - Berron, David
AU - Düzel, Sandra
AU - Brandmaier, Andreas M.
AU - Kühn, Simone
AU - Lindenberger, Ulman
AU - Wenger, Elisabeth
TI - Beneficial effects of foreign language learning and aerobic exercise on dentate gyrus volume and mnemonic discrimination in healthy older adults: Results from a randomized controlled trial
T2 - Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)
J2 - Imaging Neurosci (Camb)
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/24
VL - 4
SP - IMAG.a.1306
SN - 2837-6056
PB - MIT Press
DO - 10.1162/imag.a.1306
UR - https://doi.org/10.1162/imag.a.1306
LA - en
ER -

CSL-JSON

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