Recent reviews have shown that acute exercise can improve cognitive functions, especially executive functions. However, a closer look at the included studies revealed a wide inter-individual variability in the effects of exercise on cognition. Therefore, thirty-nine healthy adults (age: 19–30 years) were analyzed in a randomized, controlled cross-over study with two exercise groups (n = 13 each) and a sedentary control group (n = 13). The exercise conditions included moderate (30 min at 40–59% VO_2max) and high intensity interval (five × 2 min at 90% VO_2max with 3 min active recovery at 40% VO_2max) treadmill exercise. The main outcome assessed was cognitive performance (attention, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility) and underlying inter-individual variability in young adults. On the group level no significant group or group × time interaction effects were observed. Using a median split, we found significant differences between low and high cognitive performers regarding cognitive function following moderate and high intensity interval treadmill exercise. Furthermore, using a pre-determined threshold we could identify responders and non-responders to acute exercise. Therefore, future research should consider individual performance requirements.

Background Slackline-training has been shown to improve mainly task-specific balancing skills. Non-task specific effects were assessed for tandem stance and preferred one-leg stance on stable and perturbed force platforms with open eyes. It is unclear whether transfer effects exist for other balancing conditions and which component of the balancing ability is affected. Also, it is not known whether slackline-training can improve non-visual-dependent spatial orientation abilities, a function mainly supported by the hippocampus Objective To assess the effect of one-month of slackline-training on different components of balancing ability and its transfer effects on non-visual-dependent spatial orientation abilities. Methods Fifty subjects aged 18-30 were randomly assigned to the training group (T) (n=25, 23.2 ± 2.5 years; 12 females) and the control group (C) (n=25, 24.4 ± 2.8 years; 11 females). Professional instructors taught the intervention group to slackline over four consecutive weeks with three 60-minute-trainings in each week. Data acquisition was performed (within two days) by blinded investigators at the baseline and after the training. Main outcomes Improvement in the score of a 30-item clinical balance test (CBT) developed at our institute (max. score = 90 points) and in the average error distance (in centimeters) in an orientation test (OT), a triangle completion task with walking and wheelchair conditions for 60°, 90° and 120°. Results Training group performed significantly better on the closed-eyes conditions of the CBT (1.6 points, 95% CI: 0.6 to 2.6 points vs. 0.1 points, 95% CI: -1 to 1.1 points; p = 0.011, η_p^2 = 0.128) and in the wheelchair (vestibular) condition of the OT (21cm, 95% CI: 8 - 34cm vs. 1cm, 95% CI: -14 - 16cm; p = 0.049, η_p^2 = 0.013). Conclusion Our results indicate that one month of intensive slackline training is a novel approach for enhancing clinically relevant balancing abilities in conditions with closed eyes as well as for improving the vestibular-dependent spatial orientation capability; both of the benefits are likely caused by positive influence of slackline-training on the vestibular system function.

As we move through an environment, we update positions of our body relative to other objects, even when some objects temporarily or permanently leave our field of view—this ability is termed egocentric spatial updating and plays an important role in everyday life. Still, our knowledge about its representation in the brain is still scarce, with previous studies using virtual movements in virtual environments or patients with brain lesions suggesting that the precuneus might play an important role. However, whether this assumption is also true when healthy humans move in real environments where full body-based cues are available in addition to the visual cues typically used in many VR studies is unclear. Therefore, in this study we investigated the role of the precuneus in egocentric spatial updating in a real environment setting in 20 healthy young participants who underwent two conditions in a cross-over design: (a) stimulation, achieved through applying continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) to inhibit the precuneus and (b) sham condition (activated coil turned upside down). In both conditions, participants had to walk back with blindfolded eyes to objects they had previously memorized while walking with open eyes. Simplified trials (without spatial updating) were used as control condition, to make sure the participants were not affected by factors such as walking blindfolded, vestibular or working memory deficits. A significant interaction was found, with participants performing better in the sham condition compared to real stimulation, showing smaller errors both in distance and angle. The results of our study reveal evidence of an important role of the precuneus in a real-environment egocentric spatial updating; studies on larger samples are necessary to confirm and further investigate this finding.

Objectives: In this study, based on the known vestibulo-hippocampal connections, we asked whether mild chronic vestibulopathy leads only to vestibular-related deficits or whether there are effects on hippocampal function, structure, and cognition in general. In more detail, we assessed whether chronic vestibulopathy leads to (a) deficits in vestibular tasks without cognitive demand (balancing), (b) deficits in spatial cognitive tasks that require vestibular input (path integration, rotational memory), (c) deficits in spatial cognitive tasks that do not rely on vestibular input, (d) deficits in general cognitive function, and (e) atrophy in the brain. Methods: A total of 15 patients with chronic uni- or bilateral vestibulopathy (56.8 ± 10.1 years; 4 females) were included in this study and were age- and gender-matched by the control participants (57.6 ± 10.5) in a pairwise manner. Given their clinical symptoms and their deficits of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) the patients could be classified as being mildly affected. All participants of the underwent the following tests: clinical balance (CBT), triangle completion (TCT) for path integration, rotational memory (RM), the visuo-spatial subset of the Berlin intelligence structure test (BIS-4) and d2-R for attention and concentration, and a structural MRI for gray matter analysis using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Results: Compared to the healthy controls, the vestibulopathy patients performed significantly worse in terms of CBT, TCT, and RM but showed no differences in terms of the BIS-4 and d2-R. There were also no significant volumetric gray matter differences between the two groups. Conclusions: This study provides evidence that both non-cognitive and cognitive functions that rely on vestibular input (balancing, path integration, rotational memory) are impaired, even in mild chronic vestibulopathy, while other cognitive functions, which rely on visual input (visuo-spatial memory, attention), are unimpaired in this condition, together with an overall intact brain structure. These findings may reflect a segregation between vestibular- and visual-dependent processes in the medial temporal lobe on the one hand and a structure–function dissociation on the other.

Background: Studies using neuromelanin-sensitive-MRI have established the locus coeruleus (LC)-to-pons intensity ratio as a biomarker for diagnosis of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. More detailed analysis is needed for exploiting the highest clinical potential of this technique. Objective: The aim is to determine the location of the highest LC-to-pons ratio within the LC and develop an easy-to-use tool for clinical application. Methods: Ten patients diagnosed with various stages of Alzheimer’s disease (74.1±3.9 years, range 68–80, 7 females) and ten healthy elderly subjects (72.4±3.1 years, range 68–77, 5 females) participated in the study. Five subsequent slices with a thickness of 2.5 millimeters were analyzed using the image analysis tool FSL, starting with the first slice below inferior colliculus. The outcome variable was the intensity ratio between maximum values of LC and adjacent pontine region. Results: The section located 10 millimeters below the inferior colliculus has the highest potential in differentiating between healthy controls and patients, with the intensity-ratio difference between groups of 12.3% and effect size of 1.577. For the cut-off value of 1.09, the sensitivity and specificity values were 100% and 80%, respectively. Conclusion: We consider the method a promising clinical tool to aid AD diagnosis workup.

Background and Objective: Life-long balance training has been shown to affect brain structure, including the hippocampus. Data are missing in this respect on professional ballet dancers of both genders. It is also unknown whether transfer effects exist on general balancing as well as spatial orientation abilities, a function mainly supported by the hippocampus. We aimed to assess differences in gray matter (GM) structure, general balancing skills, and spatial orientation skills between professional ballet dancers and non-dancers. Methods: Nineteen professional ballet dancers aged 18–35 (27.5 ± 4.1 years; 10 females) and nineteen age-matched non-dancers (26.5 ± 2.1 years; 10 females) were investigated. Main outcomes assessed were the score of a 30-item clinical balance test (CBT), the average error distance (in centimeters) on triangle completion task, and difference in GM density as seen by voxel-based morphometric analysis (VBM, SPM). Results: Ballet group performed significantly better on all conditions of the CBT and in the wheelchair (vestibular-dependent) condition of the spatial orientation test. Larger GM volumes for ballet dancers were observed in the right hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, insula, and cingulate motor cortex, whereas both larger and smaller volumes were detected within cerebellum bilaterally in comparison to non-dancers. Conclusion: Our results indicate that life-long ballet training could lead to better clinically relevant balancing abilities as well as vestibular-dependent spatial orientation capabilities; both of the benefits might be caused by positive influence of ballet training on the vestibular system function, and—possibly—its connectivity with temporal lobe regions responsible for vestibular-dependent orienting in space.