Neurophysiological Effects of Mind-body Exercise in Healthy Adults

Enhanced Executive Functioning After Single-session Mind-body Practice is Associated With Changes in Prefrontal Hemodynamics: a 3-armed Randomized Controlled Functional Near Infra-red Spectroscopy (fNIRS) Study

There is some clinical evidence showing that Baduanjin (BDJ) practice, a type of mind-body based physical exercise, can improve executive function (EF). However, the neurophysiological changes associated with improved cognitive function remain elusive. Therefore, this study aims to carry out randomised controlled trial to explore how the single-session BDJ practice affect the function of prefrontal cortex(PFC) and also the EF of healthy adults, measure by fNIRS and verbal fluency test accordingly. A total of 60 healthy adults (based on power analysis 80% (β= 0.20) chance (α = 0.05, two-tailed)), aged 18 to 40 year old, without any physical, neurological, and neuropsychiatric disorder, classified as right-handed by Edinburgh Handedness Inventory, also with normal intelligence as verified by the Test of Nonverbal Intelligence will be recruited and randomly assigned to treatment(i.e. BDJ), active control(i.e, exercise), and passive control(i.e. video viewing) group. The investigator anticipate that this single-session BDJ practice will result in - (1) enhancing executive functioning , and (2) changes in functional brain activation pattern in PFC in adults. The result will give a spotlight to neurophysiological treatment effect of single-session Baduanjin on healthy adults, in developing intervention for improving executive functioning of adults.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Right-handed adults with normal intelligence (i.e. intelligence quotient ≥ 80), and without any physical, neuropsychiatric, and neurological disorders

Exclusion Criteria:

• Current positive history of head injury, seizure, stroke, other central nervous system diseases, other comorbid psychiatric illness, or reports of strong suicidal ideation.