Abstract
The purpose of this present study was to investigate the event-related potentials (ERPs) measuring in male elderly with different levels of physical activity when performing Posner visuospatial attention task. Twenty high-physically active (engaging soft tennis) and twenty low-physically active age-matched elderly subjects were recruited from senior community centers. All participants were tested on visuospatial attention paradigm and responded to laterally presented reaction signals via stepping pedals with their bilateral lower limbs as quickly as possible when performing the task. Simultaneously brain ERPs was recorded. The RT, error rate, N1, N2 components and P3 latency, were not significantly different between high and low-physically active groups. However, P3 amplitude was higher in high-physically active group than low-physically active group. Although behavioral results did not show significant difference between high and low-physically active groups, the electrophysiological signals revealed better brain activation performance (P3 amplitude) on the occipital and parietal lobes in high-active elderly. Our findings suggested that male elderly with high-physical activity exhibited better attentional abilities compared to low-active counterparts, when performing visuo-spatial attention task.