Boosting physical fitness increases language comprehension in older adults

Increasing physical fitness levels does have a causal link with better language comprehension, according to the first study to show this effect.

The study published in Ageing, Neuropsychology and Cognition conducted by researchers from the University of Agder in Norway and University of Birmingham in the UK found that older monolingual adults who completed a six-month exercise programme were quicker at completing language comprehension tests compared to a control group.

The participants who followed a six-month home-based exercise programme were asked to do one circuit training session and two sessions of cardio intervals per week, either doing an uphill walk, a jog or run. Following the trial, the exercise groups for both monolinguals and bilingual participants had significantly improved their fitness level, measured in VO2 _max scores.

Participants in the study were tested pre and post exercise regime on their ability to recognise a target word in a spoken sentence. The monolingual participants who followed the exercise regime were 7% quicker at detecting the correct words after their fitness increased.

Dr Katrien Segaert from the School of Psychology at the University of Birmingham and an author of the study said:

“This is the first study we know of that establishes a causal link between improving fitness and language processing, particularly with older adults. Language processing is an important and interesting area of study as it involves higher order functioning of the brain and the ability to communicate is such a key function in everyone’s daily life. The results in the monolingual group show that increasing fitness is related to better cognition which underlines how important regular exercise is for healthy ageing.

“The exercise regime that participants followed was not complicated or demanding, and we saw that many of the participants were able to complete the programme by making simple adjustments to their daily routine, for example incorporating a brisk uphill walk into their day."

Among bilingual participants in the study, despite seeing increases in VO2 _max scores for the exercise group, there was no relationship with improved scores in the language comprehension tests and the results were very similar to control. This was despite the test being conducted in the native language of the bilingual speaker.

Dr Eunice Fernandes from the Department of Foreign Languages and Translation at the University of Agder and corresponding author said:

“We did see different results in the bilingual group which is very likely due to the different cognitive demands involved in language processing when adding a second language. It’s important to note that there was no detrimental impact of improving fitness among the bilingual group, and it underscores existing studies which show that there is something more complex going on in bilingual brains when it comes to language processing that wasn’t affected by this intervention.”

This work was supported by the Research Council of Norway.