ABSTRACT

Tai Chi Chuan (TCC) is a promising intervention against age-related decline. Though previous studies have shown benefits in motoric and cognitive domains, it is unclear how these effects are functionally related. Therefore, a randomized controlled trial was conducted in an aging population (53–85). Two measures of motor functioning – motor speed and functional balance – and three cognitive control measures – shifting, updating and inhibition – were included. The TCC condition consisted of an online 10 week 20 lessons video program of increasing level and control condition of educational videos of similar length and frequency. All analyses were done with Bayesian statistics. Counter to expectation no differences were found in cognition between TCC and control pre-to-posttest. However, there was extreme evidence for TCC benefits on functional balance and moderate evidence for increased motoric speed. After weighing the evidence and limitations of the intervention we conclude that TCC does not enhance cognitive control.

摘要

太极拳 (TCC) 是一种很有前景的干预措施，可以对抗与年龄相关的衰退。尽管之前的研究表明运动和认知领域有好处，但尚不清楚这些影响在功能上的关系。因此，在老龄化人群 (53-85) 中进行了一项随机对照试验。包括两种运动功能测量——运动速度和功能平衡——以及三种认知控制测量——转换、更新和抑制。TCC 条件包括在线 10 周 20 节课的视频节目，该节目的级别和控制条件相似，长度和频率相似的教育视频。所有分析均使用贝叶斯统计进行。与预期相反，在 TCC 和控制前后测之间的认知方面没有发现差异。然而，有极端证据表明 TCC 有益于功能平衡，中等证据表明增加运动速度。在权衡干预的证据和局限性后，我们得出结论，TCC 不会增强认知控制。