Using Data-Driven Approach to Test the Link Between Physical Activity and Cognitive Skills During Aging

Planning and physical reasoning are critical skills for the proper function of older adults, whether they need to follow a well-trodden path or navigate a new environment. Researchers interested in the aging of planning and reasoning have observed older adults’ difficulties developing novel planning strategies compared to younger participants. Despite the importance of planning and physical reasoning in older adults’ daily life, little is known about how they are associated with different types of physical activity (PA), which was shown to have positive effects during aging. Here, we tested 50 older adults (60 to 88 years) and 50 young adults (20 to 39 years) in a novel version of the Recent Physical Activity Questionnaire, followed by two tasks that measure participants’ planning and physical reasoning skills. We used a data-driven approach by applying unsupervised machine learning on the questionnaire data to identify forms of PA that are linked to better performance in the tasks. We found that participants who are engaged in more varied and mindful physical activities were more successful in planning and reasoning compared to other types of PA. Although the older adults performed worse than the young adults, we did not find differences in the link between the PA forms and task performance across the two age groups. Our findings underscore the potential for targeted PA to sustain cognitive health and function across the lifespan and specifically suggest that a higher level of mixed and mindful PA may support the aging of planning and physical-reasoning skills.