Acute exercise, memory, and neural activation in young adults

Acute and Chronic Exercise Effects on Human Memory: What We Know and Where to Go from Here

“…Loprinzi et al [ 29 ] followed this up with a separate experiment but, instead, used a high-intensity bout of acute exercise, ultimately showing that exercising during both phases was better at enhancing long-term memory when compared to exercising during a single memory phase. Similar findings were also demonstrated by Slutsky-Ganesh, Etnier and Labban [ 22 ]. Despite these studies, additional work is needed in this area.…”

“…Research demonstrates that acute exercise (compared to no exercise) prior to memory encoding can enhance long-term memory [ 15 , 20 , 21 , 23 , 69 , 70 , 71 ], and similarly, long-term memory can be enhanced when exercise occurs post-encoding [ 29 , 56 , 72 ]. Further, some research demonstrates that the memory benefits from exercise occur regardless of whether acute exercise occurs before or after memory encoding [ 29 , 73 ], and one study even suggests that exercise performed both before and after memory encoding results in the largest benefits for long-term memory [ 22 ].…”

“…Finally, in a 2020 narrative review, Blomstrand and Engvall [ 17 ] concurred with the latest reviews [ 14 , 15 , 16 ], showing that acute exercise can improve memory function. Notably, empirical evidence suggests that these beneficial effects occur across the lifespan, including in children [ 18 , 19 ], young adults [ 20 , 21 , 22 ], and older adults [ 23 ]. Collectively, these reviews suggest that, from the most recent experimental work on this topic, utilizing more robust designs and considering potential moderators that have been shown to influence effect sizes (e.g., memory type and timing of acute exercise in reference to the memory task [ 24 ]), acute exercise may be effective in enhancing post-exercise memory.…”

The effects of acute exercise on short- and long-term memory: Considerations for the timing of exercise and phases of memory

“…In the present experiment, we implemented a high-intensity bout of exercise and demonstrated that exercise may additively influence memory if it occurs during multiple phases of memory. This also aligns with a recent experiment showing that stationary cycling (55-65% of heart rate reserve) for 10 minutes both before and after memory encoding was more effective, relative to control, in enhancing long-term memory when compared to cycling for 20 minutes before or after memory encoding (Slutsky-Ganesh et al, 2020). A potential mechanistic explanation for this observation is that, perhaps, exercise activates the unique mechanisms for the respective memory phases (discussed in the above sections as well as in prior reviews; Loprinzi et al, 2017Loprinzi et al, , 2018.…”

“…Further, we also aimed to evaluate whether there may be an additive effect in enhancing memory if exercise occurs during multiple phases of memory. This has been speculated elsewhere (Roig et al, 2016) and tested in prior work (Loprinzi, Chism, & Marable, 2019;Slutsky-Ganesh, Etnier, & Labban, 2020). Such an additive effect is plausible given that, for example, acute exercise prior to encoding may enhance encoding-based mechanisms (e.g., enhanced psycholog ical attention; discussed in detail elsewhere; Loprinzi, Ponce, & Frith, 2018), and acute exercise during consolidation may enhance consolidation-based mechanisms (e.g., CREB phosphorylation and long-term potentiation; discussed in detail elsewhere: El-Sayes, Harasym, Turco, Locke, & Nelson, 2019;Loprinzi et al, 2017Loprinzi et al, , 2018, and together, they may act synergistically to enhance memory performance.…”