Aging is a natural process accompanied with a progressive deterioration of cognitive functions. With an aging population, more and more elderly people are suffering from cognitive impairment. Previous studies have paid more attention to the impact of inflammation and oxidative stress on cognitive function during aging. Recently, it has been discovered that neurovascular coupling (NVC), a mechanism regulating cerebral blood flow, may play a significant role in aging-related cognitive impairment. NVC responses regulate the supply of energy substances and oxygen during brain activity, which in turn enhances cognitive function. However, as people grow older, NVC responses gradually weaken, which may be one of the mechanisms underlying aging-induced cognitive impairment. Given the important role of NVC responses in the brain, it is necessary to search for intervention methods that can improve NVC responses and promote cognitive function. Exercise is an effective means to delay aging and improve cognitive function. It also has a certain promoting effect on NVC responses. This article reviews the regulatory mechanisms of NVC responses, the relationship between NVC responses and cognitive function, and explores the effects of aging and exercise intervention on NVC responses, hoping to provide new research ideas for exercise intervention to improve NVC responses and promote cognitive function in the elderly.
Humans ; Aged ; Neurovascular Coupling/physiology* ; Aging ; Cerebrovascular Circulation/physiology* ; Cognition ; Brain

Working memory is an important foundation for advanced cognitive function. The paper combines the spatiotemporal advantages of electroencephalography (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to explore the neurovascular coupling mechanism of working memory. In the data analysis, the convolution matrix of time series of different trials in EEG data and hemodynamic response function (HRF) and the blood oxygen change matrix of fNIRS are extracted as the coupling characteristics. Then, canonical correlation analysis (CCA) is used to calculate the cross correlation between the two modal features. The results show that CCA algorithm can extract the similar change trend of related components between trials, and fNIRS activation of frontal pole region and dorsolateral prefrontal lobe are correlated with the delta, theta, and alpha rhythms of EEG data. This study reveals the mechanism of neurovascular coupling of working memory, and provides a new method for fusion of EEG data and fNIRS data.
Electroencephalography/methods* ; Memory, Short-Term ; Neurovascular Coupling/physiology* ; Prefrontal Cortex ; Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared/methods*