Background: Around 800 million young children worldwide have cognitive-developmental limitations due to issues related to biological, environmental, and psychosocial factors. These problems lead to educational challenges, limited skill development, and higher unemployment rates. Therefore, timely interventions addressing the underlying problems in institutional settings are critically important. Objective: The authors created the “Sensorimotor Training Program” (STP) as a critical intervention to develop skills essential for starting school. This experimental study aimed to investigate the impact of the STP in an institutional setting, targeting the specific auditory and visual skills crucial for kindergarten and primary school learning. Methods: The STP comprises 120 training sessions focused on sensorimotor maturation. Seven hundred and seventy-two children aged 5–8 participated in the study, with 704 in the experimental and 68 in the control group, each containing a relatively balanced ratio of boys to girls. The study spanned six to eight months, with three to five weekly sessions. Results: The intervention resulted in significant improvements in sensorimotor development in the experimental compared to the control group [p <.001, effect size (d) =.483; auditory skills r =.605 p <.001, d =.366; visual skills r =.542, p <.001, d =.294]. The intervention group also improved compared to its baseline measurements. Conclusion: These results show that implementing the STP in school settings can improve sensorimotor development, impacting auditory and visual skills in children aged 5–8. These intervention-based improvements are above and beyond biological maturation.

The reemergence of primitive reflexes (PRs) in older adults is associated with dementia and cognitive impairment. Recent experimental work suggests gentle sensorimotor exercises may halt or reverse PR's inverse development. These findings question whether physical activity (PA) is negatively related to PRs. This study aimed to test this relationship in 52 older adults aged 66 and over who were volunteers from seven Hungarian nursing homes. They were tested individually using the Senior Test, hand-grip strength, 13 PRs, and PA levels using the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire. Apart from upper and lower body flexibility, all functional fitness indices and PA were negatively related to the number of PRs. A bootstrapped multiple hierarchical linear regression revealed that only PA was a statistically significant predictor (p < 0.001) of the PRs, accounting for 41% of the variance. This study is the first to demonstrate a robust negative relationship between PA and PRs and a weak negative association with hand-grip strength and four elements of functionality in older adults. The implications of the results could be significant for developing interventions to prevent or delay PRs' inverse development, which is associated with adverse mental health in older adults.

The reemergence of primitive reflexes (PRs) in older age is related to cognitive impairment. Currently, there are no means to prevent or slow their reappearance, but research evidence exists for their control in children. Therefore, this experiment investigated whether a 16-week special sensorimotor exercise program could benefit older adults and whether the intervention-induced changes (if any) may be associated with various indices of mental health. Of 115 adults over 60, 95 completed the study (mean age = 76.37 ± SD = 7.04 years, 22 % men). The experimental group (n = 38) showed an almost threefold decline in PRs compared to controls. In contrast, the control group (n = 57) exhibited a nearly threefold increase in PRs compared to the intervention group. Cognitive function increased in the experimental but not in the control group. Changes in PRs over the 16-week intervention were positively related to negative mental health indices (hopelessness and perceived stress) and negatively related to well-being. These findings suggest that the here-presented mild sensorimotor exercises could affect older adults' reemerging PRs and that changes in PRs are associated with mental health benefits. These results may open new research avenues toward preventing cognitive and psychological decline in older adults.

Introduction: Although the relationship between functionality, as reflected in physical performance (PHP), and mental health in older adults has been researched, its strength remains unclear. Methods: This field study aimed to determine the strength of this relationship in adults aged 60 and above using seven PHP indices and six psychological measures. We individually tested 114 older adults. Objective measures included six PHP indices consisting of the Senior Test and handgrip strength. Subjective measures included resilience, wellbeing, happiness, perceived stress, hopelessness, and life satisfaction. Results: Structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed two latent constructs: PHP and mental wellbeing (MWB): robust fit (MLR): X² (75) = 136.28, p < 0.001; CFI = 0.967; TLI = 0.960; RMSEA = 0.066 (90% CI [0.000, 0.128]); SRMR = 0.088. The latent partial correlation between PHP and MWB (adjusted for Age) was φ = 0.46, indicating ∼21% shared variance. The correlation between the two latent factors was moderate (r = 0.46), suggesting that other unassessed factors might account for the relationship. Discussion: Based on objective PHP and subjective MWB measures, these results suggest a modest connection, with the two latent constructs sharing ∼1/5 of their variances. Consequently, further research is needed to identify other factors affecting the studied relationship in older adults. These cross-sectional findings, suggesting a moderate association, should be interpreted with caution. Still, they support recommending physical activity as one component of broader, multi-domain strategies to support the wellbeing of older adults.

Primitive reflexes are typically inhibited during normal neurodevelopment as cortical and subcortical inhibitory systems mature. However, persistent or incompletely integrated primitive reflexes have been observed in neurodevelopmental conditions including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, developmental coordination difficulties, sensory-processing-related presentations, and delayed speech and language development. Re-emergence of primitive reflexes has also been reported in aging and neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Based on these observations, this paper explores the hypothesis that primitive reflex expression may reflect distributed hierarchical inhibitory systems spanning spinal, brainstem, and cortical levels. We propose that persistence or reappearance of early stereotyped reflex patterns may indicate altered inhibitory regulation and sensorimotor integration associated with changes in GABAergic function and activity-dependent neural plasticity. We further propose that quantitative reflex profiling may represent a candidate behavioral framework for studying distributed inhibitory regulation across the lifespan. Reflex integration patterns may relate to motor control, sensory processing, attentional regulation, and broader neurocognitive functioning. However, clinical applicability depends on standardized measurement procedures, validated protocols, multimodal neurophysiological correlations, and replication. The proposed model should currently be interpreted as a theoretical and hypothesis-generating framework rather than a validated mechanistic or clinical account. Primitive reflex profiling is not yet part of standard clinical or neurophysiological assessment. Future research should prioritize longitudinal, multimodal, and interventional studies testing relationships between primitive reflex expression, inhibitory network organization, cortical dynamics, and sensorimotor function. Primitive reflexes may therefore represent developmentally informative behavioral phenomena associated with distributed inhibitory systems across the lifespan.

Although decades of research show the health benefits of regular exercise in older adults, the affective mechanisms underlying these benefits remain poorly understood. In fact, research on exercise-induced affect has generally lacked a clear framework for explaining how specific exercise features influence emotional experiences in older adults. This theoretical paper addresses this critical gap by proposing the circumplex model of affect as a comprehensive approach to understanding how exercise modifies valence (pleasure–displeasure) and arousal (activation–deactivation) in older adults. Using interdisciplinary evidence, we explore how neurobiological mechanisms (e.g., BDNF-mediated neuroplasticity and oxidative stress regulation) and hormonal pathways may differently affect affective valence and arousal, the two main dimensions of the circumplex model, during aging. We also explore how key exercise variables, such as intensity, type, duration, and frequency, are linked to distinct affective profiles within the circumplex model, and how individual differences in cognition, health, and socioeconomic status influence these relationships. Our review of the literature reveals that heavy reliance on one-dimensional mood measures has masked important differences between emotional quality and activation level. We argue that using the circumplex approach allows for a clearer understanding of exercise affect links and moves the field beyond the vague claim that exercise improves mood. This circumplex theoretical framework could provide a stronger foundation for developing targeted, evidence-based exercise interventions to improve affective outcomes alongside physical health benefits in older adults.