Acute physical activity could improve spatial pattern separation in humans

DANIELA RAMIREZ BUTAVAND; PEDRO BEKINSCHTEIN; BALLARINI, FABRICIO

Congreso; XXXIII Congreso Anual SAN 2018; 2018

To allow similar episodes to be distinguished in memory, the brain must form distinct representations of these events. This computational process has been referred to as ?pattern separation? and our group has recently shown that the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) could be part of an essential mechanism underlying the consolidation of pattern-separated memories. In addition, physical activity has been shown to increase the levels of this factor in both rodents and in humans.We specifically designed a task to assess spatial pattern separation in humans in a virtual reality environment, which consisted on testing the long-term memory for the position of two flags separated by different angles. The preliminary results of this study show that acute physical activity (25 minutes of fixed bicycle training) could improve performance in this task using a small separation angle.We have successfully translated this task from rodents to humans. Our results could certainly have an impact on the knowledge of the biological bases of human cognition and mental health.