Exercise Intensity-Dependent Effects on Cognitive Control Function during and after Acute Treadmill Running in Young Healthy Adults (original) (raw)
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The Effect of Exercise Intensity on Cognitive Performance During Short Duration Treadmill Running
This study examined the effect of short duration, moderate and high-intensity exercise on a Go/NoGo task. Fifteen, habitually active (9 females and 6 males aged 28 ± 5 years) agreed to participate in the study and cognitive performance was measured in three sessions lasting 10 min each, performed at three different exercise intensities: rest, moderate and high. Results indicated significant exercise intensity main effects for reaction time (RT) (p = 0.01), the omission error rate (p = 0.027) and the decision error rate (p = 0.011), with significantly longer RTs during high intensity exercise compared to moderate intensity exercise (p = 0.039) and rest (p = 0.023). Mean ± SE of RT (ms) was 395.8 ± 9.1, 396.3 ± 9.1 and 433.5 ± 16.1 for rest, moderate and high intensity exercise, respectively. This pattern was replicated for the error rate with a significantly higher omission error and decision error rate during high intensity exercise compared to moderate intensity exercise (p = 0.003) and rest (p = 0.001). Mean ± SE of omission errors (%) was 0.88 ± 0.23, 0.8 ± 0.23 and 1.8 ± 0.46% for rest, moderate and high intensity exercise, respectively. Likewise, mean ± SE of decision errors (%) was 0.73 ± 0.24, 0.73 ± 0.21 and 1.8 ± 0.31 for rest, moderate and high intensity exercise, respectively. The present study's results suggest that 10 min workout at high intensity impairs RT performances in habitually active adults compared to rest or moderate intensity exercise.
Effects of Acute Physical Exercise Characteristics on Cognitive Performance
Sports Medicine, 2002
The effect of physical exercise on mental function has been widely studied from the beginning of the 20th century. However, the contradictory findings of experimental research have led authors to identify several methodological factors to control in such studies including: (i) the nature of the psychological task; and (ii) the intensity and duration of physical exercise. The purpose of this article is to provide information, from the perspective of performance optimisation, on the main effects of physical task characteristics on cognitive performance. Within this framework, some consistent results have been observed during the last decade. Recent studies, using mainly complex decisional tasks, have provided the research community with clear support for an improvement of cognitive performance during exercise. Diverse contributing factors have been suggested to enhance cognitive efficacy. First, an increase in arousal level related to physical exertion has been hypothesised. Improvement in decisional performance has been observed immediately after the adrenaline threshold during incremental exercise. Such positive effects could be enhanced by nutritional factors, such as carbohydrate or fluid ingestion, but did not seem to be influenced by the level of fitness. Second, the mediating role of resource allocation has been suggested to explain improvement in cognitive performance during exercise. This effect highlights the importance of motivational factors in such tasks. Finally, when the cognitive performance was performed during exercise, consistent results have indicated that the dual task effect was strongly related to energetic constraints of the task. The greater the energy demand, the more attention is used to control movements.
Scientific Reports
Running, compared to pedaling is a whole-body locomotive movement that may confer more mental health via strongly stimulating brains, although running impacts on mental health but their underlying brain mechanisms have yet to be determined; since almost the mechanistic studies have been done with pedaling. We thus aimed at determining the acute effect of a single bout of running at moderate-intensity, the most popular condition, on mood and executive function as well as their neural substrates in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Twenty-six healthy participants completed both a 10-min running session on a treadmill at 50%$${\dot{\text{V}}\text{O}}_{{{\text{2peak}}}}$$ V ˙ O 2peak and a resting control session in randomized order. Executive function was assessed using the Stroop interference time from the color-word matching Stroop task (CWST) and mood was assessed using the Two-Dimensional Mood Scale, before and after both sessions. Prefrontal hemodynamic changes while performing the CWS...
Acute Physical Activity on Cognitive Function: A Heart Rate Variability Examination
Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, 2012
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of physical activity and cognitive function (as determined by reaction time and the trail-making test) in active versus non-active participants. Participants were divided into one of four groups: active experimental, active control, non-active experimental and non-active control. All groups completed a complex cognitive task (the trailmaking test) as well as a set of reaction time tasks both before and after the experimental session. The experimental groups completed a 30-min exercise session while the control groups monitored the physical activity of the experimental group. In addition to the measures of cognitive function, heart rate variability was recorded during the pre-and post-tests. There was significant cognitive performance improvement in tasks with a higher cognitive and perceptual component. Heart rate variability data indicated that a moderate level of arousal based on sympathetic nervous system activity post exercise was associated with an increase in cognitive performance. The findings are discussed in light of the inverted-U hypothesis.
Effect of Acute Exercise on Cognitive Function
Physical exercise has numerous benefits to the human body . Experimenters hypothesized that short bouts of aerobic exercise would have a positive effect on cognitive function. The Stroop Test was used to measure cognitive performance. For the experimental group, the test was administered before and after 5 min of aerobic exercise at or above 60% of maximum heart rate, and for the control group, where no exercise was performed, tests were given consecutively. The mean difference in time (sec) to complete the Stroop test for the experimental group was 5.389 sec (with outlier) and 5.704 sec (without outlier) as compared to the control group, whose mean difference was 5.1 sec. The results indicated that there was no statistical significance in the average difference in Stroop Test completion times between the control and experimental groups. In conclusion, further research is needed to determine if short bouts of exercise have an effect on cognitive function.
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), 2024
Although running upright has been reported to have positive effects on both physical and mental health, the minimum running intensity/speed that would benefit mood and prefrontal cognition is not yet clear. For this reason, we aimed to investigate the acute effect of very slow running, which is classified as a very light intensity exercise, on mood, executive function (EF), and their neural substrates in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Twenty-four healthy participants completed a 10-minute very slow running session on a treadmill at 35% V̇o2peak and a resting control session in randomized order. EF was measured using the Stroop task and the mood state was measured using the Two-Dimensional Mood Scale (TDMS) before and after both sessions. Cortical hemodynamic changes while performing the task were monitored using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The results show that ten minutes of very slow running significantly enhanced mood, reduced Stroop interference time (i.e., enhanced EF), and elicited left lateral PFC activation. Moreover, head acceleration, the magnitude of up-and-down oscillations, was measured during running, and a significant positive correlation with pleasant mood was found. Head acceleration is a remarkable characteristic of running and may be one of the factors related to a pleasant mood induced by very slow running. In conclusion, the current study reveals that a single bout of running, even at very slow speed, elicits a pleasant mood and improved executive function with enhancing activation in prefrontal subregions. This shed light on the slow running benefits to brain health.
A primer on investigating the after effects of acute bouts of physical activity on cognition
An emerging body of evidence has begun to document the beneficial after effects of single bouts —or doses —of physical activity for cognition. This article highlights a selection of common themes and critical delimitations that investigators new to this area of research as well as those currently working in the field may find relevant for advancing research in this area. The intent of this article is to provide a stimulus for future investigations to enhance not only the breadth and depth of the evidence, but also the experimental rigor. In doing so, a number of fundamental considerations are discussed including the aspects of cognition predominantly focused upon to date, issues related to the dose of the physical activity (i.e., how long the after effects persist, what characteristics of the dose may maximize the cognitive after effects), potential moderating variables, as well as potential underlying mechanisms. Additionally, discussion is provided regarding methodological conside...
Effect of Acute Vigorous Intensity Physical Activity on Cognitive Control in College-Aged Students
International Journal of Kinesiology in Higher Education, 2019
To determine the effect of physical activity (PA) on three differing types of cognitive processes, within an under-researched segment of the population, 77 college-aged students were recruited from a university in the southwestern United States. These participants completed three computer-driven tests from a battery of measurements that assess various components of cognitive control (CC)-One Card Learning Test (attention), Two Back Card Test (working memory), and Revised Groton Learning Maze Test (inhibition/ executive function). Testing took place after a bout of sedentary activity, and two weeks later, after a bout of individualized PA (based on VO2 max). Due to the high intellect/high fit nature of the participants, there was no statistical significance with the One Card learning or Two Card Back Tests (i.e., many reached the test 'ceiling' on the initial attempt). After controlling for sex, age, BMI, estimated aerobic capacity, and GPA, there were significant differences between sedentary and physical activity conditions in both moves-per-second (adjusted b-coefficient = 0.132, p < 0.001) and duration (adjusted b-coefficient = −22,653 ms, p < 0.001) within the Revised Groton Maze Learning Test. The differences between conditions represented a medium-to-large effect. There were no moderating influences on the condition differences. This study adds to the existent literature that suggests PA may facilitate increases in CC, dependent on the nature of the cognitive task.