Abstract
Moderate intensity cardiovascular exercise appears to provide a low-cost “intervention” on neurocognitive processes such as attentional control, yet the effects vary depending, for example, on cognitive task, time of testing, or exercise intensity. However, while a number of studies show that brief bouts of acute exercise can modulate behavioral indices of cognitive control, relatively few studies have attempted to identify the brain activity associated with these changes immediately following exercise. Here, we tested 11 young adults in a crossover design with a Flanker task at rest and immediately (within 2–3 min) following 20 min of acute exercise at 60% of the individual VO2max. In order to prevent delayed exercise effects that might confound or dilute immediate effects, a short version of the Flanker task (8 min) was chosen and an EEG was recorded simultaneously. The N2 and P3 ERP components were analyzed in addition to accuracy and response time. The N2 reflects conflict resolution, and the P3 has been linked to stimulus evaluation processes. No effect of exercise was found for behavioral data but P3 peak latencies were shorter following exercise as compared to rest. The N2 amplitude data suggest that exercise seems to prevent a decline in resources of attentional control over time. These data indicate that acute exercise, at a moderate intensity level, speeds up neural processing of attentional control by modulating stimulus evaluation processes immediately following exercise and that exercise helps maintain a steady level of neurocognitive resources.
Highlights
There is evidence for positive effects of acute exercise on cognition, there is no general consensus likely due to heterogeneity in study designs
There are two studies that closely resemble the current one in that event-related potential (ERP) were recorded during a Flanker task immediately after an acute bout of moderate cardiovascular exercise with a sample size of N = 12 [8] and a n = 12 subsample comprised of young adults
We investigated the immediate effects of an acute bout of exercise of moderate intensity on attentional control as assessed by a Flanker task
Summary
There is evidence for positive effects of acute exercise on cognition (for reviews cf. [1,2,3,4,5]), there is no general consensus likely due to heterogeneity in study designs (cf. [6]). A study involving adolescents in a school setting revealed increases in attentional capacities following a 10-minute bout of physical, coordinative exercise, thereby supporting the argument that physical activity could help to improve scholastic performance and cognitive functioning [12,13,14]. This is in line with results from a meta-analysis [15], which suggests a beneficial effect of acute, moderate-level physical interventions on cognition including attentional control in younger adults. ERPs were recorded to better understand the underlying (neural) processes of the relationship between acute exercise and cognitive functioning
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