Elise Wogensen forsvarer sin ph.d.-afhandling ved Institut for Psykologi

Kandidat
Elise Wogensen

“Exercise as a tool for supporting cognitive recovery after acquired brain injury: An animal model-based investigation”. Afhandlingen fremlægges til gennemsyn på Det Samfundsvidenskabelige Fakultetsbibliotek, Gothersgade 140, 1353 København K.

Tid og sted
Tirsdag den 23. maj 2017, kl. 14:00. Københavns Universitet, Det Samfundsvidenskabelige Fakultetsbibliotek, Gothersgade 140, 1353 København K. Af hensyn til kandidaten lukkes dørene præcis.

Bedømmelsesudvalg

• Lektor Signe Vangkilde, Institut for Psykologi, Københavns Universitet (formand)
• Professor, Mårten Risling, Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet,         Stockholm, Sverige
• Professor Jørgen Scheel-Krüger, Center for Funktionelt Integrativ Neurovidenskab, Aarhus Universitet

Resumé
The thesis investigates the use of exercise as a tool to promote cognitive recovery after acquired brain injury (ABI) in animal model-based studies. It consists of a systematic review examining the current status of preclinical research on the cognitive effects of post-ABI exercise (study I), and three experimental studies examining the effects of exercise on cognitive recovery in a rodent model of mechanically induced brain injury (studies II, III, and IV). Study II investigates the effects of different postinjury starting points of exercise; study III investigates the effects of two different types of exercise, and study IV examine the effects of different (temporal) distribution of exercise. Study I indicates that exercise can support cognitive recovery in some cases, yet overall conclusions as to when, what, and how much exercise should be administered after ABI cannot currently be drawn. Study II found a marked cognitive recovery effect of voluntary exercise administered in the later posttraumatic phase, however, this finding was not replicated in studies III and IV. No recovery effects of different frequency and distribution of exercise sessions were found. The results of the four studies indicate, that the efficacy of post-ABI exercise possibly relies on a complex array of inter-connected factors that influence the potential of exercise as a general recovery-promoting method.