The Relation of Childhood Fitness &

Adiposity to Cognitive & Brain Health

The Relation of Childhood Fitness &

Adiposity to Cognitive & Brain Health

Charles H. Hillman, Ph.D.Neurocognitive Kinesiology Laboratory

Department of Kinesiology & Community HealthUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Physical Inactivity Trends

• There is a pandemic of physical inactivity in today’s society.

• Recent reports forecast that inactivity will continue to rise throughout the industrialized world over the next few decades (Ng & Popkin, 2012).

• Although the effects on physical health is well known, cognitive and brain health is only beginning to emerge.

Physical Fitness & Achievement Test Performance

220

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360

0 1 2 3 4 5

Fitnessgram

To

tal I

SA

T S

core

Castelli, Hillman, Buck, & Erwin (2007) JSEP.

Aerobic Fitness & Achievement Test Performance

Castelli, Hillman, Buck, & Erwin (2007) JSEP.

200

250

300

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400

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

R2 = 0.22

PACER (# Laps)

Tot

al I

SA

T

Sco

re

Body Mass Index & Achievement Test Performance

Castelli, Hillman, Buck, & Erwin (2007) JSEP.

Tot

al I

SA

T

Sco

re

200

250

300

350

400

10 15 20 25 30 35

Body Mass Index

R2 = 0.06

*p < .05**p < .01

Scudder et al. (in review).

Inhibitionthe ability to ignore distraction & stay

focused

Cognitive Flexibilitythe ability to switch

perspectives, focus of attention, or response

mappings

Working Memorythe ability to hold

information in mind and manipulate it

Cognitive Control

Flanker TaskFlanker Task

>>>>>

>><>>

<<><<

<<<<<

1000 ms

100 ms

1000 ms

1000 ms

Fitness & Basal Ganglia Volume

0

1000

2000

3000

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6000

Left Right Left Right Left Right Left Right

Higher FitLower Fit

Caudate Nucleus Putamen

Globus Pallidus Nucleus Accumbens

*

*

*

* *

[r = -.33] [r = -.25]

[r = -.26] [r = -.35]

Chaddock et al. (2010). Developmental Neuroscience,32, 249-256.

Relational Memory Task

Chaddock et al. (2010). Brain Research, 1358, 172-183

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55

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Item Accuracy Relational Accuracy

Memory Performance

Low Fit

High Fit

*

Fitness, Hippocampus, & Memory

The FITKids Randomized Trial

221 Children (Rx = 109, Control = 112)

participated in >70 minutes of

intermittent moderate to vigorous

physical activity following each school

day.

An after-school physical activity program occurring on 150 of the 170 day school year.

Modified Flanker Task

1200 ms

200 ms

1200 ms

1200 ms

Change Flanker Task Performance

Switch TaskSwitch Task

2000 ms

200 ms

2000 ms

2000 ms

Change in Heterogeneous Response Accuracy

Change in P3 Amplitude

Flanker Incongruent P3 Relationship with Attendance

Switch Heterogeneous Response AccuracyRelationship with Attendance

-3

0

3

6

0 200 400 600 800 1000Time (ms)

Ampl

itude

(uV)

Post Exercise Congruent

Baseline CongruentBaseline Incongruent

Post Exercise Incongruent

Acute Exercise in Preadolescent Children

Hillman et al. (2009). Neuroscience, 159, 1044-1054.

Acute Exercise & Academic Achievement

Pontifex et al. (in press). J. Pediatrics.

Adiposity, Cognition, & Achievement

Kamijo et al. (in press). Obesity.

Obesity & Inhibition

70

80

90

100

Go NoGo

Healthy Weight Obese

Re

spon

se A

ccur

acy

(%)

*

Go NoGo

Kamijo et al. (2012). Psychophysiology.

Obesity & ERPs(NoGo-Go P3 Amplitude)

Kamijo et al. (2012). Psychophysiology.

µV

2

-2

Healthy Weight Obese

Encoding (Day 1)

Study Only Test Study

Study: 6 sec

Taft

Clay

Clay

Test: 4 sec

Study: 2 sec

Raine et al. (2013) PLOS ONE.

Rate of Learning (Day 1)A

ccur

acy

(% C

orre

ct)

Block

Higher FitLower Fit

Raine et al. (2013) PLOS ONE.

Recall (Day 2)

Free Cued

Pell Bond Ross Taft Dane Owen Glen Cass Nash Mack

Raine et al. (2013) PLOS ONE.

*

Higher FitLower Fit

Acc

ura

cy (

% C

orr

ect

)

Fitness Affects on Recall (Day 2)

Raine et al. (2013) PLOS ONE.

*

*

Higher FitLower Fit

Acc

ura

cy (

% C

orr

ect

)

Study Only Test Study

Fitness x Learning (Day 2)

Raine et al. (2013) PLOS ONE.

Conclusions

• Fitness may benefit brain health and academic performance.

• Fitness has been linked to changes in cognition that are disproportionately larger for tasks requiring cognitive control.

• Early PA experience may shape cognition and its neural underpinnings.

• Excess adiposity is related to decrements in cognitive & brain health, and scholastic achievement.

• Single bouts of aerobic exercise benefit basic and applied aspects of cognitive performance.

• Collectively, these data suggest that time spent engaged in physically active does not detract from academic performance.

• Thus, early intervention is crucial toward lifespan health and effective function of brain and cognition.

AcknowledgementsCollaborators

Sarah Buck (Chicago State U)

Darla Castelli (U Texas)

Neal Cohen (UIUC)

Eco de Geus (Vrije U)

Joe Donnelly (U Kansas Med)

Kirk Erickson (U Pitt)

Ellen Evans (U Georgia)

Bo Fernhall (UIC)

Eric Hall (Elon College)

Keita Kamijo (Waseda U)

Art Kramer (UIUC)

Eddie McAuley (UIUC)

Rob Motl (UIUC)

Matthew Pontifex (MSU)

Jason Themanson (IL Weslyan U)

Michelle Voss (U Iowa)

Funding

NICHD HD055352

NICHD HD069381

NIDDK DK085317

CNLM/Abbott Labs

Nike Foundation

IARPA

StudentsLaura ChaddockEric DrolletteChris JohnsonNaiman KhanDavis MooreKevin O’LearyLauren RaineMark ScudderKelvin Wu

Virtual Crosswalk

• Why do we care about attention and memory performance in children?

• Motor vehicle accidents are among the leading causes of death among children under the age of 16 years in the U.S.

• Given the importance of fitness to cognition, might fitness lead to better decision making at the crosswalk?

Undistracted Music Phone40

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90

Lower-FitHigher-Fit

Chaddock et al. (2012). MMSE, 44, 749-753

Mechanisms for PA & Cognition• Neurogenesis

• Angiogenesis & synaptogenesis in the cerebellum (Isaacs et al., 1992)• Increased density of capillaries in the molecular layer to support

increased metabolic demands (Black et al., 1990)• Enhanced neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus (van Praag et al., 1999)

• Increased LTP and Morris water maze performance

• Increase levels of neurochemicals that improve plasticity and neuronal survival• Brain-derived neurotrophin factor (BDNF; Cotman & Berchtold, 2002)

• e.g., 7 days of voluntary wheel running increased BDNF mRNA levels in the hippocampus, cerebellum, and cortex (Neeper et al., 1996).

• Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1; Carro et al., 2001)• Serotonin (Blomstrand et al., 1989)• Dopamine (Spirduso & Farrar, 1981)

• Brain Metabolism• Regional cerebral blood flow and oxygenization (Dustman et al., 1984)• Glucose and lactate consumption associated with ∆ in neuronal pH

• Inflammation • C-reactive protein & Interleukin-6