Introduction
reductions in executive function
PATHOLOGY, CORTEX
“Might strength, efficiency, and segregation update, if you challenge yourself.” Late adulthood is known for being the finest moment for crystallized cognition; older adults maintain or even increase vocabulary and expertise-based abilities. However, even healthy normal aging, characterized by the lack of pathology, is related to a progressive decline in fluid cognitive abilities, which is associated with reductions in executive function, memory, attention, and processing speed [Functional brain connectivity emerged as a new promising approach based on the fact that cognitive functions are the result of coordinated activity among distant brain areas that work in networks [Different types of exercise have been related to cognitive and brain health. In particular, evidence highlights the role of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise (AE) in the promotion of executive function, processing speed, attention, and memory in older adults [Cognitive training is another example of the most studied behavioral intervention. Computerized cognitive training (CCT), which refers to single cognitive training tasks performed on electronic devices, became a promising approach to promote cognition and structural and functional brain health [AE and CT showed promising results and a certain degree of complementarity in matters of mechanisms involved in the observed cognitive benefits [Six months of combined training have been shown to produce changes in the strength of functional connectivity of the precuneus, right angular gyrus, and posterior cingulate cortex in the DMN and the left frontal eye field in the DAN [Projecte Moviment is an RCT protocol that involved the effect of a high-frequency (5 days per week) short-term (12 weeks) program of AE, computerized cognitive training (CCT), and their combination in healthy physically inactive older adults [In this study, (1) we aim to assess changes in functional connectivity on rs-fMRI related to intervention, (2) we intend to investigate the moderating role of sex and age on functional connectivity on rs-fMRI changes, and (3) the possibility that changes in functional connectivity on rs-fMRI outcomes mediate the relationship between the intervention and cognitive benefits.