The Effects Of A 30-min Moderate Aerobic Exercise On Autonomic And Inhibitory Control - ERP Study

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PURPOSE: The current study aimed at exploring whether inhibitory control would be changed after a 20-min bout of moderate cycling exercise plus 5-min warm-up and 5-min cool-down. The study hypothesized that subjects who demonstrated greater high frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV) reactivity (i.e. larger HF-HRV decrease) under a mental stress evoked by a Stroop color-word test, would perform better on the Stroop tasks after acute aerobic exercise. METHODS: 40 young male adults (age=21.3 +/- 2.1 yrs. old) were randomly assigned to either an exercise intervention or no exercise (control) condition. Participants of intervention were asked to engage in a 20 min cycling exercise at 60%VO2max, while computerized Stroop color-word test was conducted before and after the cycling to examine the acute effects of aerobic exercise on inhibitory control. HRV was measured during the Stroop tasks by using the Electrocardiogram (ECG), which was recorded via two bipolar electrodes that were placed on the left and right chest of the participants. The electroencephalogram (EEG) signal was recorded continuously from a 32 scalp electrodes arranged according to the International 10-20 system. The EEG data was re-referenced offline to average of mastoid electrodes, and bandpass filtered at 0.1 to 20 Hz. Target-locked ERP analysis was restricted to the frontocentral midline electrodes (Fz, Cz, Pz) as Stroop interference effect were known to be maximum at the midline. RESULTS: Two-way repeated measures MANOVA showed significant Intervention X Time interaction on Stroop interference at Pz location (p < 0.03). Meanwhile, significant Intervention X Time interaction on HF-HRV differences was revealed between the exercise intervention and control groups on the Stroop tasks (p < 0.01). Exercise group performed significantly lower score on Stroop interference and lower HRV reactivity at post-test than the control group (p < 0.05). Lower scores reflecting more adaptive response and enhanced cognitive performance. CONCLUSIONS: A 30-min acute moderate aerobic exercise could elicit inhibitory control for young adults. The studies manifested the potential physiological mechanism between central nervous system and autonomous nervous system which were reflected by HRV index.