Acute Exercise Improves Prefrontal Cortex but not Hippocampal Function in Healthy Adults

Abstract

The effects of acute aerobic exercise on cognitive functions in humans have been the subject of much investigation; however, these studies are limited by several factors, including a lack of randomized controlled designs, focus on only a single cognitive function, and testing during or shortly after exercise. Using a randomized controlled design, the present study asked how a single bout of aerobic exercise affects a range of frontal- and medial temporal lobe-dependent cognitive functions and how long these effects last. We randomly assigned 85 subjects to either a vigorous intensity acute aerobic exercise group or a video watching control group. All subjects completed a battery of cognitive tasks both before and 30, 60, 90, or 120 min after the intervention. This battery included the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised, the Modified Benton Visual Retention Test, the Stroop Color and Word Test, the Symbol Digit Modalities Test, the Digit Span Test, the Trail Making Test, and the Controlled Oral Word Association Test. Based on these measures, composite scores were formed to independently assess prefrontal cortex- and hippocampal-dependent cognition. A three-way mixed Analysis of Variance was used to determine whether differences existed between groups in the change in cognitive function from pre- to post-intervention testing. Acute exercise improved prefrontal cortex- but not hippocampal-dependent functioning, with no differences found between delay groups. Vigorous acute aerobic exercise has beneficial effects on prefrontal cortex-dependent cognition and these effects can last for up to 2 hr after exercise.

The effects of chronic and acute physical activity on working memory performance in healthy participants: a systematic review with meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

“…Of note, four studies did not report intensities for their interventions [47, 52, 53, 55], and after reviewing each intervention more closely, two of which were yoga centered [52, 53], all four were subsequently reported as “low” intensity. Additionally, only one study indicated a “vigorous” PA intensity [57], which was changed to join the eight studies with “moderate to vigorous” PA intensity. We found intensity was a significant moderator ( Q  = 7.399, p  = 0.025) between low ( n  = 5), moderate ( n  = 3), and moderate to vigorous ( n  = 9) PA intensities.…”

Physical Exercise Performed Four Hours after Learning Improves Memory Retention and Increases Hippocampal Pattern Similarity during Retrieval

“…See also Figure S3 for raw performance scores. See also Table S2. effects of exercise conducted immediately after acquisition, suggesting that experimental parameters such as task, type of learning, type of stimulus material, and subject population could be important for the net effect of exercise on memory retention [12,14,33,34]. It remains a challenge for future research to determine the specific parameters that modulate the impact of exercise on memory.…”

Randomized controlled trial evaluating the temporal effects of high‐intensity exercise on learning, short‐term and long‐term memory, and prospective memory

“…Most of this work, understandably, has been conducted among older adults (see review articles (Bherer et al ., ; Carvalho et al ., ; Gajewski & Falkenstein, ; Lu et al ., )). Emerging research evaluating the effects of exercise on memory among younger, healthy adults has demonstrated evidence supporting functional strengthening and proliferation of neural connections and regional brain activation in areas specifically subserving memory performance (Miles & Hardman, ; Libkuman et al ., ; Covassin et al ., ; Sibley & Beilock, ; Labban & Etnier, ; Berman et al ., ; Gothe et al ., ; Nanda et al ., ; Basso et al ., ; Loprinzi & Kane, ; McNerney & Radvansky, ; Bantoft et al ., ; Hwang et al ., ; Crush & Loprinzi, ; Loprinzi et al ., ). The emergence of this line of inquiry in this young adult population is warranted given that memory has been shown to start to decline among young adults in their 20s (Salthouse, ).…”

“…In addition to the population (fewer studies in young adults) and potential temporal effects of exercise on memory, three additional gaps in the literature include the exercise stimulus, memory type, and memory follow‐up period. With regard to the exercise stimulus, and despite animal work demonstrating that high‐intensity exercise is effective in increasing post‐synaptic excitatory activity (Swiatkiewicz et al ., ) and long‐term memory (Wang & Wang, ), the majority of research in the young adult population (Miles & Hardman, ; Libkuman et al ., ; Covassin et al ., ; Sibley & Beilock, ; Labban & Etnier, ; Berman et al ., ; Gothe et al ., ; Nanda et al ., ; Basso et al ., ; Loprinzi & Kane, ; McNerney & Radvansky, ; Bantoft et al ., ; Hwang et al ., ) has employed moderate‐intensity exercise protocols. Regarding memory type, all of the studies in the young adult population (Miles & Hardman, ; Libkuman et al ., ; Covassin et al ., ; Sibley & Beilock, ; Labban & Etnier, ; Berman et al ., ; Gothe et al ., ; Nanda et al ., ; Basso et al ., ; Loprinzi & Kane, ; McNerney & Radvansky, ; Bantoft et al ., ; Hwang et al ., ) have examined either retrospective‐related episodic memory, recognition memory, logical memory, working memory, long‐term memory, visuospatial memory, or verbal memory.…”