Experimental Manipulation of Psychological Control Scenarios: Implications for Exercise and Memory Research

Jeremiah Blough,Paul D. Loprinzi

doi:10.3390/psych1010019

Abstract

The purpose of this experiment was to evaluate the extent to which variations in control activities influence memory function, as well as to investigate the participants’ memory expectations for the various conditions. A within-subject, counterbalanced experimental design was employed. Across four visits, participants engaged in four tasks, including an acute exercise session, and three cognitive-engagement control tasks of varying degrees of cognitive engagement and valence, namely reading neutral text, looking at a video, and puzzle completion. Participants’ perceived expectations for how each condition would improve their memory performance was also assessed. We observed no differences in objective cognitive performance or outcome expectations across the three evaluated control tasks, and thus, future studies may wish to employ either of these control tasks, which should not compromise making comparisons across studies.

Highlights

Recent work within the field of exercise neurophysiology demonstrates beneficial effects of both acute and chronic exercise on human memory
Our study found that there were no significant differences in any of the cognitive tasks across the control conditions
In addition to examining how these different control activities influenced cognition, we evaluated how individuals expected their cognitive performance to be improved by each control condition

Summary

Introduction

Recent work within the field of exercise neurophysiology demonstrates beneficial effects of both acute and chronic exercise on human memory. Approximately 48% to 71% of the studies on this topic demonstrate favorable effects of exercise on human memory [1,2]. Approximately half- to one-third of these studies do not demonstrate a memory enhancement effect from exercise. Of central interest to the present experiment is evaluating the extent to which control activities, within an experimental design, influence memory outcomes that are thought to be attributed to exercise. With a mixed-design experimental study (between and within-subject factors), memory outcomes that occur post-exercise are compared to a control group or control scenario (e.g., baseline control, disengagement control, cognitive engagement control, or active control conditions). Non-stable, or non-expected memory scores from a control scenario, can influence whether an interaction (exercise vs control) effect is observable

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion