Abstract
Current evidence indicates that acute aerobic exercise might increase domain-specific cognitive performance. However, only a small number of studies deduced the impact on lower and higher cognitive functions systematically or analyzed dose–response relationships and the underlying mechanisms. This study aimed to expose the dose–response relationships by investigating the influence of exercise duration on subjective and objective arousal, cognitive attention and visual recognition memory tasks. Nineteen participants (eight female; 25.69 ± 3.11 years) were included in a randomized, three-armed intervention study in a cross-over design. The participants completed three different interventions consisting of either 15, 30 or 45 min of cycling at 60–70% VO2max. Arousal and cognitive measurements were taken before and immediately after (<2 min) exercise. All three interventions led to significant but comparable effects on self-perceived arousal, heart rate (HR) and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) (p < 0.05). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated significant effects of exercise duration on visual recognition memory accuracy. Reaction times for higher and lower cognitive tasks did not change after exercise. Fifteen minutes of aerobic exercise was feasible to induce beneficial changes in self-perceived arousal. Processing speed of visual recognition memory and attention remained unaltered. Exercise exceeding fifteen minutes seemed to negatively impact visual recognition memory accuracy.
Highlights
An increasing number of randomized controlled trials suggest beneficial effects of a single bout of exercise on cognitive function [1]
Pontifex et al [7] showed a beneficial influence on memory performance after 30 min of treadmill running using the Sternberg Working Memory Test, whereas Li et al [6], using a N-Back task paradigm, and Soga et al [8], using a modified N-Back task paradigm, did not show beneficial effects following 20 min and 15 min of treadmill running at 60–70% of age-predicted maximal heart rate, respectively
Post-hoc analysis revealed better accuracy after 15 min of aerobic exercise compared to the 30-min (p = 0.024) and 45-min interventions (p = 0.012), where a negative change in accuracy performance represented decreased performance. This investigation analyzed the acute effects of single bouts of aerobic exercise on visual recognition memory and attention performance
Summary
An increasing number of randomized controlled trials suggest beneficial effects of a single bout of exercise on cognitive function [1]. Changes in cognitive performance might be moderated by study characteristics like the assessed cognitive domain, the timing of cognitive measurement [16,17] and participant attributes (e.g., age, sex) [18]. It is still debatable which exercise prescription elicits the most beneficial effects on cognitive performance. Pontifex et al [7] showed a beneficial influence on memory performance after 30 min of treadmill running using the Sternberg Working Memory Test, whereas Li et al [6], using a N-Back task paradigm, and Soga et al [8], using a modified N-Back task paradigm, did not show beneficial effects following 20 min and 15 min of treadmill running at 60–70% of age-predicted maximal heart rate, respectively
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