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Updated: Aug 23, 2026

Working Memory Training for Older Participants: A Control Group Training Regimen and Initial Intellectual Functioning Assessment
Published on: September 20, 2020
Physical activity and executive control: implications for increased cognitive health during older adulthood
Charles H Hillman1, Artem V Belopolsky, Erin M Snook
1Department of Kinesiology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. chhillma@uiuc.edu
Abstract:
Electrocortical and behavioral responses of low, moderate, and high physically active older adults were compared with a younger control group on neutral and incompatible conditions of a flankers task. Compared to younger adults, high and moderate active older adults exhibited increased event-related potentials component P3 amplitude for the incompatible condition at the frontal electrode site. For the neutral condition, only low active older adults exhibited decreased amplitude at the central-parietal site, compared to younger adults. P3 latency revealed the longest latencies for low active older adults, followed by moderate active, high active, and younger adults, respectively. Reaction time (RT) data revealed that younger adults exhibited faster RT compared to all three older groups. Results suggest that physical activity may improve executive control function in older adults by affecting the distribution of P3 amplitude, which has been related to memory and attentional processes, and by decreasing P3 latency, which relates to the speed of cognitive processing.
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