Abstract
How daily physical activity and sedentary time relate to human judgement and functional connectivity (FC) patterns that support them remains underexplored. We investigated the relationships between accelerometer-measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary time to decision-making competence (DMC) in young adults using a comprehensive Adult-Decision Making Competence battery. We applied graph theory measures of global and local efficiency to test the mediating effects of FC in cognitively salient brain networks (fronto-parietal; dorsal attention, DAN; ventral attention; and default mode), assessed from the resting-state fMRI. Sedentary time was related to lower susceptibility to a framing bias. However, once global and local efficiency of the DAN were considered we observed (1) higher susceptibility to framing with more sedentary time, mediated through lower local and global efficiency in the DAN, and (2) lower susceptibility to framing with more sedentary time. MVPA was not related to DMC or graph theory measures. These results suggest that remaining sedentary may reduce neurofunctional readiness for top-down control and decrease engagement of deliberate thought, required to ignore irrelevant aspects of a problem. The positive effect suggests that the relationship between sedentary time and DMC may be moderated by unmeasured factors such as the type of sedentary behavior.
Highlights
How daily physical activity and sedentary time relate to human judgement and functional connectivity (FC) patterns that support them remains underexplored
moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was not related to performance on any of the DMC tests measured with adult decision-making competence (A-DMC) battery
Sedentary time was positively related to resistance to framing in unadjusted as well as adjusted for MVPA models, but not to other A-DMC tests
Summary
How daily physical activity and sedentary time relate to human judgement and functional connectivity (FC) patterns that support them remains underexplored. Aerobic exercise interventions are effective at improving cognitive control (a set of cognitive processes that schedule, control and maintain goal directed behavior) across the lifespan[2,3,4] Recent evidence extends these positive effects to decision-making competence (DMC)[5]. Individual differences in sedentary time have not been controlled for in these studies, while poorer general cognitive functioning was observed with higher sedentary time among older adults, regardless of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA)[9]. The benefits of daily MVPA could extend to DMC, to these aspects that to a greater extent rely on cognitive control such as resistance to framing (the ability to overcome the effects of positive or negative valence frames), following complex decision rules when weighing options and ability to recognize limits of one’s k nowledge[20]. Higher sedentary time may adversely affect DMC by downregulating cognitive control in favor of automatic information processing and increasing susceptibility to well-known cognitive biases (such as a framing bias) in decision-making[21]
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