Park, J.-Y.; Ko, H.-J.; Kim, A.-S.; Moon, H.-N.; Choi, H.-I.; Kim, J.-H.; Chang, Y.; Kim, S.-H. Effects of Pet Insects on Cognitive Function among the Elderly: An fMRI Study. J. Clin. Med.2019, 8, 1705.
Park, J.-Y.; Ko, H.-J.; Kim, A.-S.; Moon, H.-N.; Choi, H.-I.; Kim, J.-H.; Chang, Y.; Kim, S.-H. Effects of Pet Insects on Cognitive Function among the Elderly: An fMRI Study. J. Clin. Med. 2019, 8, 1705.
Park, J.-Y.; Ko, H.-J.; Kim, A.-S.; Moon, H.-N.; Choi, H.-I.; Kim, J.-H.; Chang, Y.; Kim, S.-H. Effects of Pet Insects on Cognitive Function among the Elderly: An fMRI Study. J. Clin. Med.2019, 8, 1705.
Park, J.-Y.; Ko, H.-J.; Kim, A.-S.; Moon, H.-N.; Choi, H.-I.; Kim, J.-H.; Chang, Y.; Kim, S.-H. Effects of Pet Insects on Cognitive Function among the Elderly: An fMRI Study. J. Clin. Med. 2019, 8, 1705.
Abstract
Background: Animal-assisted therapy has positive effects on cognitive function, depression, performance ability, and social functioning in elderly patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of rearing pet insects on the cognitive function of healthy elderly participants, with fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) being used for this purpose. Methods: Community-dwelling elderly women (≥60 years) with normal cognitive function were enrolled during April 2015. They were randomized at a 1:1 ratio into two groups: insect-rearing and control (n=16) groups, with the insect-rearing group being further classified into two groups for analysis according to the subjects’ scores in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, WCST) at the first fMRI: insect-rearing group I with a relatively high score (n=13), and insect-rearing group II with a relatively low score (n=6). All subjects were educated on a healthy lifestyle for better cognitive function at every visit, and the insect-rearing groups received and reared crickets as pet insects. The fMRI was performed at baseline and after 8 weeks using the WCST as a stimulus. The WCST consisted of two variations, a high level baseline (HLB) and semi-WCST version. Results: There were no significant differences in the baseline characteristics among the three groups. There was a significant difference accuracy of the HLB–semi-WCST (p<0.05) in insect-rearing group II after 8 weeks from the baseline test. In the fMRI analysis involving the WCST reaction test, increased activation was observed in the right dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex and parietal cortex in insect-rearing group II when the semi-WCST, rather than the HLB, was performed. There were no significant differences in the other groups. Conclusion: The rearing of pet insects as an animal-assisted therapy is cost-effective, easy, and occupies little space. In this study, it showed positive effects on executive functions and performance improvement in elderly women. Further larger studies on the effects of pet insects on cognitive function are warranted.
Keywords
cognitive function; pet insects; animal-assisted therapy; Wisconsin Card Sorting Task; functional magnetic resonance imaging; elderly women
Subject
Social Sciences, Cognitive Science
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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