Determining Whether Tai Chi Chuan Is Related to the Updating Function in Older Adults: Differences Between Practitioners and Controls

• Published in: Frontiers in public health Vol. 10; p. 797351
• Main Authors: Yang, Yuan, Chen, Tingting, Wang, Chen, Zhang, Ji, Yuan, Xiaoxia, Zhong, Xiaoke, Yan, Shoufu, Jiang, Changhao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 03.05.2022
• Subjects: Accuracy Rates (ARs); older adults; Public Health; Reaction Times (RTs); Tai Chi Chuan; updating function; Reaction Times (RTs); older adults; Tai Chi Chuan; Accuracy Rates (ARs); updating function
• ISSN: 2296-2565; 2296-2565
• DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.797351

Tai Chi Chuan (TCC) is an effective method for delaying cognitive decline in older adults. However, in older adults, the association between long-term TCC practice and working memory updating has not been extensively studied. This cross-sectional study investigated how updating function operationalized Reaction Times (RTs) and Accuracy Rates (ARs) of N-Back tasks being measured in a laboratory setting is related to long term practice of TCC. Twenty-six healthy elderly people participated in this experiment. According to the duration of time TCC was practiced, 13 subjects in the TCC group had more than 5 years of experience with TCC exercise, and 13 elderly subjects who had not been systematically exposed to mind-body exercise were assigned to the control group. The N-back task was administered to every participant to evaluate the updating function. The TCC group had faster RTs than the control group ( < 0.05). For the 1-back task, the TCC group showed faster RTs than the control group; for the 2-back task, the TCC group exhibited faster RTs than the control group. The TCC group had higher ARs than the control group ( < 0.05). For the 1-back task, the TCC group showed higher ARs than the control group; for the 2-back task, the TCC group exhibited higher ARs than the control group. Long-term TCC practitioners exhibit a better updating function as compared to controls who did not practice TCC. Thus, our findings suggest that long-term TCC positively influences the updating function of older adults, making it, in turn, an effective mind-body exercise to maintain specific aspects of cognitive functioning.