Acute High-Intensity Interval Exercise Improves Inhibitory Control Among Young Adult Males With Obesity.

Chun Xie,Jingyi Ai,Yu-Kai Chang,Brandon L Alderman,Fanying Meng,Anmin Li

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01291

Abstract

ObjectiveThe aim of the present study was to examine the influence of acute high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) on neural and behavioral measures of inhibitory control in young male adults with obesity.DesignThe present study employed a within-subjects design.MethodsSixteen male adults with obesity [body mass index (BMI) > 28 kg/m2] were recruited. Reaction time and response accuracy of the Flanker task as well as P3 and late positive potential (LPP) components of the event-related potential (ERP) were measured following HIIE and a sedentary control, in counterbalanced order. The HIIE session consisted of 30 min of stationary cycle exercise (5-min warm-up, 20-min HIIE, and a 5-min cool-down), whereas the control condition consisted of a time and attention-matched sedentary resting session.ResultsFaster response times were observed following HIIE regardless of Flanker task condition. Faster and more accurate responses were also observed for congruent relative to incongruent conditions across both sessions. Relative to the neuroelectric data, acute HIIE resulted in increased LPP amplitude but did not affect P3 amplitude.ConclusionCollectively, a single bout of HIIE has a general beneficial effect on basic information processing and inhibitory control among young adult males with obesity. Acute HIIE was found to impact LPP amplitude, but not the P3, which may suggest a modulation in the ability to successfully maintain attention and filter irrelevant information to achieve successful cognitive inhibition. Future research is warranted to extend these findings to a larger sample size that includes both genders, other cognitive functions, and a comparison of different modes of exercise.

Highlights

Obesity is a global public health concern that is associated with an increased risk of adverse health conditions including cardiovascular disease and diabetes (Ng et al, 2014) as well as impaired cognition, including executive function, attention, decision making, and memory (Smith et al, 2011; Prickett et al, 2015; Yang et al, 2018)
Along with the few studies that have been conducted to determine the effects of a single bout of high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) on inhibitory control, this is the first to examine the influence of this form of exercise on the P3 wave and LPP component among young adult males with obesity
Previous studies have shown that a single bout of HIIE improves inhibitory control performance among normal-weight adults (Alves et al, 2014; Tsukamoto et al, 2016; Kao et al, 2017, 2018) and the present study exhibited faster reaction time following acute HIIE that extends to male adults with obesity

Summary

Introduction

Obesity is a global public health concern that is associated with an increased risk of adverse health conditions including cardiovascular disease and diabetes (Ng et al, 2014) as well as impaired cognition, including executive function, attention, decision making, and memory (Smith et al, 2011; Prickett et al, 2015; Yang et al, 2018). Obesity has been associated with impairments in inhibitory control. Inhibitory control, a core domain of the executive function, reflects as the ability to suppress inappropriate actions or override the processing of task-irrelevant or distracting information (Bari and Robbins, 2013). A recent meta-analysis reported a moderate inverse effect size for inhibitory control deficits among overweight and obese individuals (Yang et al, 2018). Atrophy of prefrontal cortical regions implicated in cognitive control has been found in individuals with obesity, providing evidence of obesity-impaired cognitive inhibition through both structural and functional brain imaging data (García-García et al, 2015)

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