Background. Ageing of the Western Society has become both – economic and social concern. Ageing has both – biological and psychological consequences, and, with changes in the brain due to ageing (e.g. decline in the brain volume in frontal, parietal and temporal areas, as well as hippocampus (Colcombe et al., 2003; Erickson, Voss, Shaurya, Basak, & Szabo, 2011)), there are changes in cognitive functioning. For the past years, research has indicated a relationship between aerobic activity interventions and increase in episodic memory (Ruscheweyh et al., 2011), face recognition associative memory (Hayes et al., 2015) and working memory (Erickson et al., 2011). Methods. The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between involvement in aerobic physical activities and memory; thus 43 seniors aged from 65 to 85 (M = 71.86, SD = 5.09, 23% male) were included in the study. Based on their physical activity experience, participants were divided into three groups – seniors with long- term aerobic physical activity experience (n = 16), seniors that have recently taken up aerobic physical activities (n = 19) and seniors not involved in physical activities (n = 8). Results. The preliminary data indicated relationship between long-term involvement in physical activities and working memory, as well as negative relationship between sedentary lifestyle and overall cognitive abilities. Conclusions. As this is still a work in progress, one of the limitations being the small sample, these results can be considered only as a tendency. Another limitation is the unequal gender distribution. This study was funded by the Latvian National Research Programme BIOMEDICINE 2014–2017.

In the next 30 years, a significant increase of the population aged over 65 is expected (WHO, 2015). Ageing can often be associated with cognitive decline; however, recent research indicates that symptoms of age-related cognitive impairment are modulated by Cognitive Reserve (CR), which derives from level of education, working activity, and social activity (Tucker & Stern, 2011). The role of CR in neurodegenerative disease has been extensively researched, but little is known about its contribution to normal ageing. Fifty-four healthy Latvian seniors were recruited for the study. We assessed simple and complex reaction times, associative memory, memory retrieval, attention, working memory. Furthermore, we quantified their CR. We analysed the relationship between CR and reaction times with two separate logistic regressions. Then, four linear regression models were built to analyse the relationship between CR and the scores on the cognitive tasks. CR was not related to the cognitive performance of healthy Latvian seniors. Such results indicate that CR resources may be mostly required when high-demanding tasks have to be performed.

Abstract. The aging of the Western society has become one of the key issues in research. Lately research has shown relationship between improvement in cognitive functioning and involvement in physical activities. The aim of the study was to examine the impact of different types of physical activities on executive functioning. Overall 30 seniors aged from 65 participated in a two-day study. They were divided into three groups per their life-style -aerobic activity, strength training and sedentary. Results indicated differences between the groups in cognitive efficiency (F = 6.791, p < 0.01) and working memory (F = 6.179, p < 0.01) as well as the inhibition of attention (F = 4.311, p < 0.01). The mean scores were higher in the aerobic group. The results indicate that involvement in aerobic physical activity might lessen the decline in executive functioning in seniors.

Introduction: The aging society has become one of the key issues regarding the health policy. World Health Organization states that by the year 2050, population aged over 60 will reach 22%. Despite the increase of a human lifespan, illnesses and declines created by the age, have not changed over the years (WHO, 2016). The research shows that it is possible to delay such issues as cognitive decline with aging and even dementia by changing ones lifestyle (Benedict et al., 2012). The main objective of this study was to examine the relationship between long-term aerobic physical activity and different memory systems. Methods: 29 participants aged from 65 to 80 (M = 72,48, SD = 4,7, 28% male) participated in the study. Participants were divided into three groups based on their aerobic physical activity experience. In the first group were seniors with long-term regular aerobic physical activity experience, who have also been involved into competitive sports, in the second group seniors with short-term regular aerobic physical activity experience were included. In the third group participants with overall sedentary life style were included. To assess long-term and short term memory the Memory Ten Word test (Luria, 1976), to assess associative memory and working memory, two subtests from Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive abilities were used – Memory for Names and The Numbers Reversed Test (Mather & Woodcock, 2001). To obtain information on demographic data as well as physical activity experience, Demographic Data Questionnaire, International Physical Activity Questionnaire for Elderly (Hurtig-Wennlöf, Hagströmer, & Olsson, 2010) and Social Determinants of Health Behaviours (FINBALT, 2008) were used. The testing process was conducted working with each participant individually for two days. Results: Preliminary data indicated neither significant diferences nor correlations in memory systems across all three groups. Conclusions: The present data shows that long- or short-term involvement in aerobic physical activity does not impact any of the memory systems; however, this study has many limitations that might impact the results. Firstly, and most importantly, there are still discussions on proper group division as some of the long-term active seniors currently are less active than their short-term active peers. Secondly, in data analysis we did not control for education or age and thirdly, data analysis were conducted on a very small sample.

Introduction: The concept of “cognitive reserve” has been used to explain the observation where two individuals with similar neuropathology experience different outcomes either through coping or compensational mechanisms (Stern, 2002). Intellectual and work involvement are considered the main aspects of cognitive reserve – the ability to overcome a neuropathology by using previously developed cognitive or compensational processes (Stern, 2009). However, even though the subject of “cognitive reserve” has become more and more relevant, available tools for measuring it are sparse. The main objective of this study was to conduct the first stage in adapting Cognitive Reserve Index Questionnaire, CRIq (Nucci, Mapelli, & Mondini, 2012). Methods: 29 participants aged from 65 to 80 (M = 72,48, SD = 4,7, 28% male) participated in the study. None of the participants were diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease, participants with previous head trauma were excluded from the data analysis. Before administering, the CRIq was translated to Latvian and back by two bilingual translators. The questionnaire consists of three sections – the first section comprises years of education, the second secion accounts for working activity (years and level of professional occupation) and the third section comprises information on leisure time (years of frequent leisure activities, e.g. reading, traveling, taking care of a pet etc.). In order to assess the cognitive processes, Montreal Cognitive Assessment (Nasreddine et al., 2005) and Memory Ten-word test (Luria, 1976) were used. Results: The total CRI score correlated strongly with all the three subscores (r = 0,616, 0,758, 0,483, p < 0,05, for the correlations with CRI-Education, CRI-Working Activity and CRI-Leisure Time respectively). There were no significant correlations across any of the CRI subscores and MoCA test and Memory Ten-word test results. Significant differences across gender were found in CRI-Education (t = 2,423, p < 0,05) and the total CRI score (t = 2,981, p < 0,05). Conclusions: Overall, this study will provide an instrument for measuring cognitive reserve in Latvia; however, even in the first stage of adaptation, a question regarding the necessary changes for adapting this instrument. Even though the internal consistency of the CRIq was satisfactory, there were no correlations with the measures of cognitive processes. These results raise the question regarding such limitations of this research as the small sample as well as not taking into the consideration the aspect of bilingualism.