Physical Activity and Social Cognition in the Elderly

Abstract

Social cognition is related to the so-called “Theory of the mind” and refers to the ability to understand the behavior of other people. It plays a transcendental role in the social relations cohesion. Knowing whether normal aging is associated with deficiencies in social understanding is a problem in characterizing the changes that occur in adulthood. The aim of this study was to examine whether the social cognition of the elderly is mediated by factors such as working memory, physical activity, body composition, or age, in elderly people. Sixty volunteers (mean age, 71.50 ± 4.84 years) were recruited from various locations in Malaga. Recognition of emotional expression, working memory, body composition, and physical activity were evaluated. Our results show that performance in emotion recognition is not affected by age in the range studied. Furthermore, we have not found a relationship with any of the body composition parameters. However, a significant relationship with performance in working memory has been revealed, as well as a significant relationship between vigorous/very vigorous physical activity and working memory. Therefore, physical activity could be positively related to the recognition of emotions by positively influencing working memory.