RELATING MOTOR AND COGNITIVE INTERVENTIONS IN ANIMALS AND HUMANS
Kadir Carruthers1, Cris Zampieri1, Diane Damiano1
1NIH, Clinical Center, Rehabilitation Medicine Department, Functional & Applied Biomechanics Section, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
Translational Neuroscience
|August 22, 2023
Summary
Motor interventions positively impact cognition more than cognitive training impacts motor skills. Translating animal study findings to humans is challenging due to contextual differences in exercise and cognitive training paradigms.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Rehabilitation Science
Background:
- Cognition and motor performance are fundamental to human function.
- Emerging research highlights a significant interrelationship between cognitive and motor domains.
- This connection has critical implications for neurological rehabilitation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To comprehensively review the basic science and clinical literature.
- To examine the effects of motor interventions on cognitive function and vice versa.
- To assess the translatability of animal study findings to human populations.
Main Methods:
- Literature review encompassing human and animal studies.
- Inclusion of healthy and centrally nervous system-pathological conditions.
- Analysis of studies on motor interventions and cognitive training.
Main Results:
- Greater evidence supports exercise positively influencing cognition.
- Cognitive training shows less consistent effects on motor function.
- Animal studies, particularly rodent-based ones, present challenges in human translation due to differing exercise and cognitive training contexts.
Conclusions:
- Motor interventions appear more robustly linked to cognitive benefits than cognitive training to motor improvements.
- Significant challenges exist in directly translating animal research findings to human neurological rehabilitation.
- Future research should focus on refining intervention strategies and improving translatability.
