Abstract
Physical exercise has been proposed as a viable means to stimulate motor learning. Exercise characteristics, including intensity and duration, may play a role in modulating the exercise effect on motor learning. While some evidence exists regarding the benefits of intense and relatively long exercise, little is known about the effect of short exercise bouts on motor learning, especially in children. This study aimed to assess the effect of long versus short intense exercise bouts on the adaptation and consolidation of a rotational visuomotor adaptation task. The participants were 71 healthy children from two sites divided into three groups: long exercise bout (LONG), short exercise bout (SHORT), and no exercise (CON). Children performed a rotated (clockwise 60° rotation) motor task on four different occasions: an adaptation set and 1 h, 24 h, and 7 days delayed retention sets. Exercise bouts were performed prior to the adaptation set. Results showed a group effect during motor adaptation [F(2,68) = 3.160; p = 0.049; = 0.087], but no statistical differences were found between groups. Regarding retention tests, both exercise groups (LONG and SHORT) showed superior retention compared to CON group [F(2,68) = 7.102; p = 0.002; = 0.175]. No differences were found between exercise groups, indicating similar benefits for the two exercise interventions. Overall, whether the exercise duration was long or short, exercise improved motor memory retention as an estimate of memory consolidation process. The use of short exercise bouts may be suitable to improve children’s motor memory consolidation in environments where time constraints exist.
Highlights
Execution of motor skills involves the integration of perceptual information and motor responses
Participants at Site 2 were randomly assigned to the experimental groups: (LONG) participants exercised for 13 min before practicing the rotational visuomotor adaptation task (rVMA); (SHORT) participants exercised for 5 min before practicing the rVMA; and (CON) who rested before engaging in the rVMA
To control for the group distribution differences across sites, we implemented a four-step process: (1) possible site differences at baseline were explored through Student’s t-test or the Mann–Whitney U test comparing age, estimated VO2max, and the rVMA baseline variables (MT, TD, RT, and IDE); (2) to examine possible group differences at baseline, age, and estimated VO2max and rVMA baseline variables were explored through one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA); (3) we studied the association between the IDE variable and those variables that presented baseline site or group differences, using the Pearson correlation coefficient; and (4) those variables that presented significant site or group differences and significant correlation with the IDE were used as covariates in the subsequent analyses
Summary
Execution of motor skills involves the integration of perceptual information and motor responses. Learning to adjust a movement to a new mapping between the perceptual and motor components requires a two-phase process, involving adaptation and consolidation (memory formation) of the learned task. During these processes, an initial internal model of the task execution is formed and refined (adaptation) and becomes more stable with the passage of time (consolidation) (Krakauer et al, 2005). Internal model formation and feedforward mechanisms are key factors in the effective planning of the required movements to fulfill the task objectives (Contreras-Vidal, 2006). Previous adult research (Roig et al, 2012; Thomas et al, 2016a,b) proposed that exercise characteristics (e.g., exercise timing, intensity, and duration) play an important role in the modulation of the exercise-induced benefits on motor adaptation and memory consolidation
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