65歲以上的高齡者為世界上人口比例成長最快速之年齡層，其認知功能亦會隨著年齡的增長而衰退，在臺灣人口漸趨老年化的情況下，如何增進或維持認知功能已成為現今社會重要的議題；身體活動不足會造成身心健康的影響並提高心血管疾病之罹患，其與失智症有間接的關係，許多研究指出因年齡造成的認知衰之減緩，身體活動有正面效應，亦為現今成功老化的之關鍵；本文之目的係以認知功能之研究為主軸，蒐集2010-2015年國際間15篇有關認知功能、身體活動之文獻，其主要從Pubmed及Medline做搜尋，關鍵字包括：cognition、memory、old adult、physical activity、exercise等，再進行整理與分析其研究成果。結果發現：因性別的不同，運動處方的設計需斟酌調整，且不同的運動選擇，對於不同的認知過程改善有潛在的神經關聯，其對應的認知功能表現亦不相同；中等強度的身體活動能增加海馬迴體積，海馬迴體積與空間記憶的改善有相關；12週的訓練時間即能觀察出身體活動對認知的改善，為有較顯著的結果，建議至少6個月的訓練時間為較適宜；如能再加入認知訓練，其可在較短時間內看到明顯的改善。希冀本研究結果在後續研究對於這些議題的探究能有所貢獻。

The world's fastest growing age group is constituted of the elderly aged 65 and older, who's cognitive functions deteriorate as they grow old. As Taiwan’s population aging, it is crucial for the society to improve and maintain the senior citizens’ cognitive functions. As we know, a lack of exercise will affect the body, elevate the risk of cardiovascular disease and indirectly cause Alzheimer's disease. Studies have also shown that exercise is the key to reduce the probability of age-related disease. The thesis is based on the research of cognitive functions, and we collect 15 cognitive function and physical activity related papers published from 2010 to 2015 from abroad. We mainly focus on papers from Pubmed and Medline, using keywords such as cognition, memory, old adult, physical activity, and exercise. After we analyze their findings, the result shows that：first, due to gender difference, the analytical design should be adjusted; second, exercises have neural connection to different cognitive functions, the corresponding function performance also varies; third, moderate intensity exercises are able to increase the volume of hippocampus, which could improve spatial memory; Fourth, a 12-week training time already shows the effect of physical activity on cognitive function. For better results, we suggest a training time last for at least 6 month. Cognitive training can help researchers to speed up the process. We hope our research could make contributions to these issues.