Street dancing may improve cognitive reserve in young women, study finds

A neuroimaging study in China found that young female college students who participated in an 18-week street dance program showed greater activation in areas of the brain linked to attention, inhibition, and task switching. They also demonstrated better accuracy and faster responses in cognitive tasks. The paper was published in Frontiers in Neuroscience.

As people live longer, medical conditions characteristic of advanced age are becoming an increasingly important public health concern. A key concern is age-related cognitive decline. As people reach advanced age, many of their cognitive abilities start to decline, with working memory and processing speed usually the most affected. The decline tends to be slow at first but accelerates as a person ages.

Studies have indicated that a key protective factor against age-related cognitive decline is cognitive reserve. Cognitive reserve is the brain’s ability to maintain normal cognitive functioning despite damage, aging, or disease. This reserve develops through lifelong factors like education, intellectually stimulating activities, social engagement, and complex occupations. It is thought to result from both structural aspects (like greater synaptic density) and the functional adaptability of neural networks.

Cognitive reserve helps explain why two people with similar brain damage can show very different levels of cognitive impairment. It is closely related to the concept of brain plasticity, emphasizing the brain’s capacity to reorganize itself. Lifestyle choices such as regular exercise, learning new skills, and maintaining social connections can enhance cognitive reserve.

Study author Yongbo Wang and his colleagues wanted to explore whether street dancing could be used to improve cognitive reserve. In this study, street dance is defined “as an umbrella term for styles such as Breaking, Locking, and Popping, characterized by improvisation, rhythmic variety, and cognitively demanding choreographic sequences.”

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The study participants were 28 healthy female college students with an average age of 20 years. The authors randomly assigned them to either a street dance group or a control group.

At the start of the study, all participants underwent functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) of their brains and completed a set of cognitive tasks. The street dance group then participated in an 18-week program consisting of three 80-minute sessions per week.

The control group did not undergo any intervention and was instructed to maintain their usual daily routines. After 18 weeks, both groups underwent fNIRS scans again and completed the same cognitive tasks.

Results indicated that the street dancing group had increased activation in multiple prefrontal cortex regions while performing the cognitive tasks. These areas included the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the right frontopolar area, and the left inferior frontal gyrus, which are linked to attention, inhibition, and task switching. The street dance group participants also showed higher accuracy and faster responses in the cognitive tasks.

“The 18-week street dance intervention effectively improved working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility, contributing to enhanced cognitive reserve,” the study authors concluded. “As a physical activity combining rhythm and coordination, street dance offers a promising early intervention strategy for delaying cognitive decline and reducing dementia risk.”

The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the links between behavior and brain activity. However, it should be noted that the study was conducted on a very small group of healthy, young, female participants. Results on other demographic groups and on larger samples might differ.

The paper, “Street dancing enhances cognitive reserve in young females: an fNIRS study,” was authored by Yongbo Wang, Quansheng Zheng, Yanbai Han, Yaqing Fan, Hongen Liu, and Hongli Wang.