Home › Research › Prevention and risk
Fitness effects on the cognitive function of older adults: a meta-analytic study
Stanley J. Colcombe, Arthur F. Kramer. Psychological Science, 2003-03-01
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
A meta-analytic study was conducted to examine the hypothesis that aerobic fitness training enhances the cognitive vitality of healthy but sedentary older adults. Eighteen intervention studies published between 1966 and 2001 were entered into the analysis. Several theoretically and practically important results were obtained. Most important fitness training was found to have robust but selective benefits for cognition, with the largest fitness-induced benefits occurring for executive-control processes. The magnitude of fitness effects on cognition was also moderated by a number of programmatic and methodological factors, including the length of the fitness-training intervention, the type of the intervention, the duration of training sessions, and the gender of the study participants. The results are discussed in terms of recent neuroscientific and psychological data that indicate cognitive and neural plasticity is maintained throughout the life span.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
APA 7th
Colcombe, S. J., & Kramer, A. F. (2003). Fitness effects on the cognitive function of older adults: a meta-analytic study. Psychological Science. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.t01-1-01430
Vancouver
Colcombe SJ, Kramer AF. Fitness effects on the cognitive function of older adults: a meta-analytic study. Psychological Science. 2003. doi:10.1111/1467-9280.t01-1-01430. PMID: 12661673.
BibTeX
@article{colcombe2003-12661673,
author = {Colcombe, Stanley J. and Kramer, Arthur F.},
title = {{Fitness effects on the cognitive function of older adults: a meta-analytic study}},
journal = {Psychological Science},
year = {2003},
doi = {10.1111/1467-9280.t01-1-01430},
pmid = {12661673},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.t01-1-01430}
}
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
Why it matters
A meta-analysis of 18 intervention studies published between 1966 and 2001 tested whether aerobic fitness training improves cognition in healthy but sedentary older adults. Fitness training had selective benefits for cognition, largest for executive-control processes, and the size of the effect varied with factors such as the length and type of training.
New to this subject? Start with our plain-English guide: Prevention →
How this study scored 53/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on strength of evidence, so that was left out: it earned 50 of the 95 points we could judge it on, which is 53 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Psychological Science) |
| Journal's citation record | 3 / 4 | Psychological Science: journal h-index 416 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | — / 5 | No evidence rating recorded — left out of this score |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2003 — older than 20 years, still counted |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 7 / 7 | Cited 3,784 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 5 / 5 | 151.4 citations a year over 25 year(s) since 2003 |
| Impact for its field and year | 5 / 6 | Cited 24.1× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 0 / 6 | No other study in this library cites it |
| Still being cited | 4 / 4 | Cited 367 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 4 / 4 | Last-listed author Arthur F. Kramer: h-index 130 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 1 / 3 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign: institution h-index 1,439 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 1 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 2 institution(s) in 1 country |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 12661673) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 50 / 95 | Scored on 19 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 50 of the 95 points we could judge it on is 53 out of 100. |
| Total | 53 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
May need a subscription OpenAlex found no free copy of the full text (checked 6 Feb 1020), so the publisher may charge for it. The PubMed abstract is free.
Related
Studies in the library that share something with this one. The line above each title says what.
Related studies in Prevention and risk
Also tagged “controlled”
1,116 studies in the library carry the topic tag “controlled”; these are this study's neighbours in a fixed, alphabetical-by-hash tour of them, not the closest in content. All 1,116 tagged studies.