The impact of physical activity and sex differences on intraindividual variability in inhibitory performance in older adults

ABSTRACT

It is well-known that processing speed and executive functions decline with advancing age. However, physical activity (PA) has a positive impact on cognitive performances in aging, specifically for inhibition. Less is known concerning intraindividual variability (iiV) in reaction times. This study aims to investigate the influence of PA and sex differences on iiV in inhibitory performance during aging. Healthy adults were divided into active and sedentary groups according to PA level. To analyse iiV in reaction times, individual mean, standard deviation and the ex-Gaussian parameters were considered. An interaction between activity level and sex was revealed, sedentary females being slower and more variable than sedentary men. No sex differences were found in the active groups. These results indicate that the negative impact of sedentariness on cognitive performance in older age is stronger for females. The present findings underline the need to consider sex differences in active aging approaches.

KEYWORDS:

• Intraindividual variability
• physical activity
• sex differences
• aging
• inhibition

Acknowledgments

The authors thank all study participants for their patience and the pollsters for data collection. The authors wish to thank the National Institute of Statistics and Economical Studies (INSEE) for their help in determining a representation sample of participants.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The PRAUSE survey was supported by the French National Research Agency [Grant Number ANR-12-MALZ-005-01], the Regional Council of Poitou-Charrentes, the European Funds for Regional Development (FEDER), the Poitou-Charrentes Health Regional Agency, The Poitou-Charrentes Régional Department for Youth, Sports and Social Cohesion, and Calyxis.