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Abstract
The number of older adults in the United States is growing at an unprecedented rate which places a significant burden on the healthcare system. Therefore, it is important to study health and wellness factors that may provide neuroprotection for the brain in the aging process. Exercise interventions and physical activity have been shown to positively impact cognition in older adults but the mechanisms underlying this neuroprotection are still not fully understood. The present study examined the impacts of physical activity and fitness on the association between functional connectivity and cognitive functioning in older adults using seed-to-voxel, ROI-to-ROI anti-correlated networks, and graph theory analyses. It was hypothesized that physical activity and fitness would moderate the associations between cognitive functioning and key brain network functional connectivity and network anti-correlations. Results suggest that greater physical activity in later life is associated with greater functional connectivity and physical activity and fitness may serve as protective factors for the aging brain. Implications and future directions are discussed.