Abstract
Background Inhibitory control deficits may be one important cause for smartphone addiction. The available studies have shown that acute aerobic exercise may improve the inhibitory control. However, there is still lack of research on how regimens of an acute exercise affect this inhibitory control. The present study was to examine the effects of an acute aerobic exercise at three different exercise intensities on changes in the inhibitory control function including response inhibition and interference control in college students with smartphone addiction. Methods Participants (n = 30; age 20.03 ± 0.96 years) with smartphone addiction were identified by the Mobile Phone Addiction Tendency Scale for College Students and randomized to study 1 and study 2 with 15 individuals each. Fifteen participants in study 1 were tested by the Go/NoGo task to explore the response inhibition, while other fifteen in study 2 were tested by the Flanker task to examine the interference control. The participants in study 1 and 2 were randomly assigned to three groups (5 in each) with exercising at low, moderate, and high intensity. The individual response inhibition and interference control were measured before and after 30 minutes acute aerobic exercise, respectively. Results In study 1, the accuracy of NoGo stimulus after 30 minutes of acute aerobic exercise was significantly increased (p ≤ 0.001) while the response time (RT) of Go stimulus was significantly decreased (p ≤ 0.001). The largest changes occurred in the moderate-intensity group for the accuracy of NoGo stimulus (p=0.012) and for the RT of Go stimulus (p ≤ 0.001). The results in study 2 showed no significant change in all three groups after exercise. Conclusions 30 minutes of acute aerobic exercise could effectively elicit changes of the response inhibition in college students with smartphone addiction. The largest improvement was observed in the moderate intensity of an acute aerobic exercise in college students with smartphone addiction.
Highlights
As smartphones nowadays provide a high-degree of connectivity and open the doors to a new world for their users, addiction to smartphone usage is becoming a common problem among users worldwide. is form of addiction to information technology tools is characterized by excessive or compulsive mobile phone use and a preoccupation with the usage day by day or even all the day
E results in Table 1 again showed that the mean response time (RT) of the Go stimulus decreased significantly in all three intensity groups as responding to the acute aerobic exercise intervention. ese results implied that the participants could improve the RT of the Go stimulus after an acute aerobic exercise
A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to evaluate effects of three exercise intensities on the mean RT of the Go stimulus between pretest and posttest. e results showed the significant differences between Study 1 Low Intensity (S1LI) and Study 1 Moderate Intensity (S1MI) groups (p. ≤ 0.001), S1LI and Study 1 High Intensity (S1HI) groups (p. 0.001), and S1MI and S1HI groups (p. ≤ 0.001), with the biggest change in the S1MI group, the second in the S1HI group, and the least in the S1LI group. ese results indicated that the RT of the Go stimulus decreased significantly after an acute aerobic exercise and the moderate intensity was most effective than the low and high intensities
Summary
As smartphones nowadays provide a high-degree of connectivity and open the doors to a new world for their users, addiction to smartphone usage is becoming a common problem among users worldwide. is form of addiction to information technology tools is characterized by excessive or compulsive mobile phone use and a preoccupation with the usage day by day or even all the day. Smartphone addiction could result in individuals losing control over their usage habits and/or turning smartphone use into a harmful activity on daily life. E present study was to examine the effects of an acute aerobic exercise at three different exercise intensities on changes in the inhibitory control function including response inhibition and interference control in college students with smartphone addiction. E individual response inhibition and interference control were measured before and after 30 minutes acute aerobic exercise, respectively. 30 minutes of acute aerobic exercise could effectively elicit changes of the response inhibition in college students with smartphone addiction. E largest improvement was observed in the moderate intensity of an acute aerobic exercise in college students with smartphone addiction Conclusions. 30 minutes of acute aerobic exercise could effectively elicit changes of the response inhibition in college students with smartphone addiction. e largest improvement was observed in the moderate intensity of an acute aerobic exercise in college students with smartphone addiction
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