Age and Fitness Differences in the Effects of Posture and Exercise on Information Processing Speed

Abstract

This experiment sought to determine if posture- and exercise-induced neuro-stimulation influences age differences in reaction (RT) and movement (MT) time, and whether obtained effects varied with physical fitness level. Thirty-six healthy male participants (18 young (19–29 yrs) and 18 old (60–69 yrs), with each group divided into the fit or unfit) performed both simple and two-choice visual reaction time tasks under six arousal/activation conditions: three postural changes (supine, sitting, standing) and three different relative workloads on a cycle ergometer (free pedaling, 20% HRR_max, 40% HRR_max). Consistently, RTs were slower for the older vs. young adults but the elderly performed fastest when Standing than when Sitting or Lying, whereas posture effects were negligible in the young. During exercise SRTs in the young and Old Fit were not greatly influenced by fitness level or arousal/activation condition, but the Old Unfit benefitted from moderate (20% HRRmax) exercise-induced neuromuscular activation thereby accounting for a portion of age-related cognitive slowing by providing evidence that the elderly function at a less activated (aroused) level than young adults and may benefit from circumstances which elevate these levels. An opposite pattern occurred in MTs for the Old Unfit - for both posture and exercise: increases in arousal/activation caused increases in MT but in a fashion not supporting an RT-MT tradeoff in response strategy. Posture and exercise does affect speed of response, and may reduce age differences especially for those who possess already slowed response latencies.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Birren

J.E.

Riegel

K.F.

Morrison

D.F.

(1962). Age differences in response to speed as function of controlled variations of stimulus conditions: Evidence of a general speed factor. Gerontologia, 6, 1–18.

Birren

J.E.

Vercruyssen

Fisher

L.M.

1990). Aging and speed of behavior: It's scientific and practical significance. In Bergener

Ermini

Stahelin

H.B.

(Eds.), The Sandoz lectures in gerontology: Challenges in aging (pp. 3–23). New York: Academic Press.

Birren

J.E.

Woods

A.M.

Williams

M.V.

(1980). Behavioral slowing with age: Causes, organization, and consequences. In Poon

L.W.

(Ed.) Aging in the 1980s: Psychological issues (pp. 293–308). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

Botwinick

Thompson

L.W.

(1968). Age differences in reaction time: An artifact? The Gerontologist, 8, 25–28.

Cann

M.T.

(1990). Effects of age, gender, posture-induced arousal, and task loading on speed of behavior. Unpublished master's thesis in Human Factors. University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

Clarke

M.M.

Robertson

J.C.

Gillies

J.H.

Ellis

R.M.

(1991). Effect of body posture and time on grip strength in patients with cervical spondylosis. Clinical Biomechanics, 6(2), 123–126.

Clement

(1966). Effects of physical activity on the maintenance of intellectual capacities. The Gerontologist, 6(2), 91–102.

de Vries

H.A.

(1970). Physiological effects of an exercise training regimen upon men aged 52 to 88. Journal of Gerontology, 25, 325–366.

Greatorex

G.L.

(1991). Aging and speed of behavior: CNS arousal and reaction time distribution analyses. Unpublished master's thesis in Human Factors. University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

10.

Hebb

D.O.

(1955). Drives and the C.N.S. (Conceptual nervous system). Psychological Review, 62, 243–254.

11.

Kallman

D.A.

Plato

C.C.

Tobin

J.D.

(1990). The role of muscle loss in the age-related decline of grip strength: Cross-sectional and longitudinal perspectives. Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, 45(3), M82–M88.

12.

Lindsley

D.B.

(1958). The reticular activating system and perceptual integration. In Sheer

D.E.

(Ed.) Electrical stimulation of the brain. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

13.

Lindsley

D.B.

(1970). The role of nonspecific reticulothalmocortical systems in emotion. In Black

(Ed.) Physiological correlates of emotion. New York: Academic Press.

14.

Malmo

R.B.

(1959). Activation: A neurophysiological dimension. Psychology Review, 66, 367–386.

15.

Malmo

R.B.

(1972). In Greenfield

N.S.

Sternbach

R.A.

(Eds.), Handbook of psychophysiology (pp. 967–980). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

16.

Mihaly

(1988). Arousal and cognition: Effects of exercise-induced arousal (elevated heart rate), limb movement, and practice on four speed of response measures. Unpublished master's thesis in Safety Science. University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

17.

Mital

Faard

H.F.

(1990). Effects of sitting and standing, reach distance, and arm orientation on isokinetic pull strength in the horizontal plane. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 6(3), 241–248.

18.

Moruzzi

Magoun

H.W.

(1949). Brain stem reticular formation and activation of the EEG. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 1, 455–473.

19.

Obrist

W.D.

(1965). Electroencephalographic approach to age changes in response speed. In Welford

A.T.

Birren

J.E.

(Eds.), Behavior, aging and the nervous system. Springfield, IL: C.C. Thomas.

20.

Powell

R.R.

(1974). Psychological effects of exercise therapy upon institutionalized geriatric mental patients. Journal of Gerontology, 29(2), 157–161.

21.

Powell

R.R.

Pohndorf

R.H.

(1971). Comparison of adult exercisers and non-exercisers on fluid intelligence and selected physiological variables. Research Quarterly, 23, 70–77.

22.

Pribram

K. H.

McGuinness

(1975). Arousal, activation and effort in the control of attention. Psychological Review, 82, 116–149.

23.

Salthouse

T.A.

(1985). Speed of behavior and its implications for cognition. In Birren

J.E.

Schaie

K.W.

(Eds.), Handbook of the psychology of aging, 2nd ed. (pp. 400–426). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.

24.

Simonton

(1992). Effects of posture on speed of behavior. Unpublished master's thesis in Human Factors. University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

25.

Spirduso

W.W.

(1975). Reaction and movement time as a function of age and physical activity level. Journal of Gerontology, 30, 435–440.

26.

Spirduso

W.W.

(1980). Physical fitness, aging, and psychomotor speed: A review. Journal of Gerontology, 35, 850–865.

27.

Spirduso

W.W.

(book in press). Physical dimensions of aging. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

28.

Spirduso

W.W.

Clifford

(1978). Replication of age and physical activity effects on reaction and movement time. Journal of Gerontology, 33(1), 26–30.

29.

Tredway

V.A.

(1978). Mood effects of exercise program for older adults. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

30.

Vercruyssen

(in press). Slowing of behavior with age. In Kastenbaum

(Ed.) Encyclopedia of adult development. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx.

31.

Vercruyssen

Simonton

(in press). Effects of posture on mental performance: We think faster on our feet than on our seat. In Lueder

Noro

(Eds.), Science of seating. London: Taylor & Francis.

32.

Woods

A.M.

(1981). Age differences in the effect of physical activity and postural changes on information processing speed. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

33.

Yerkes

R.M.

Dodson

J.D.

(1908). The relation of strength of stimulus to rapidity of habit-formation. Journal of Comparative and Neurological Psychology, 18, 459–482.