Effect of Cognitive, Motor, and Motor-Cognitive Exercises on Explicit Motor Memory Balance and Walking of Elderly Women

Elderly is a process that changes all aspects of human existence on the basis of slow and progressive changes. A decline in physical function, especially balance, walking, and memory disorders are other problems in the elderly together with physical, psychological, and social consequences.The main purpose of the current study was to investigate the effect of eight weeks of cognitive, motor, and motor-cognitive exercises on explicit motor memory, balance, and walking of elderly women.

The statistical population of the study consisted of 48 elderly women (age: 67.83 ± 2.54 years) who were randomly divided into four groups of 12. Motor training consisted of eight weeks of rhythmic aerobic exercise. For cognitive exercises, Captain’s Log software was used. Hybrid exercise included performing aerobic and cognitive exercises in succession. Measuring instruments included Six-Minute Walk, Timed Up and Go as well as explicit motor memory test to evaluate the cognitive function. Repeated measures ANOVA was used for statistical analysis.

The results showed that eight weeks of cognitive exercise had significant effect on explicit motor memory among participants (p < 0.05) and improved their balance (p < 0.05) and walking (p < 0.05). In addition, hybrid exercises (motor-cognitive) improved both motor function (p < 0.05) and explicit motor memory (p < 0.05) in the participants. Comparison between groups showed that both cognitive and hybrid excersices relative to each other had similar effects on explicit motor memory (p < 0.05) and had rather the same effect on the participants’ balance (p < 0.05) and walking (p < 0.05).

According to the results of the present study, it can be concluded that most changes   regarding improvement time of getting up and going test was in the six minutes test time for motor training group and most changes in the improvement of explicit motor memory was related to cognitive-motor group.