Acute physical exercise improves shifting in adolescents at school: evidence for a dopaminergic contribution

Abstract

The executive function of shifting between mental sets demands cognitive flexibility. Based on evidence that physical exercise fostered cognition, we tested whether acute physical exercise can improve shifting in an unselected sample of adolescents. Genetic polymorphisms were analyzed to gain more insight into possibly contributing neurophysiological processes. We examined 297 students aged between 13 and 17 years in their schools. Physical exercise was manipulated by an intense incremental exercise condition using bicycle ergometers and a control condition which involved watching an infotainment cartoon while sitting calm. The order of conditions was counterbalanced between participants. Shifting was assessed by a switching task after both conditions. Acute intense physical exercise significantly improved shifting as indicated by reduced switch costs. Exercise-induced performance gains in switch costs were predicted by a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) targeting the Dopamine Transporter (DAT1/SLCA6A3) gene suggesting that the brain dopamine system contributed to the effect. The results demonstrate the potential of acute physical exercise to improve cognitive flexibility in adolescents. The field conditions of the present approach suggest applications in schools.

Acute Cognitively Engaging Exergame-Based Physical Activity Enhances Executive Functions in Adolescents

“…This finding seems to contradict studies on acute effects of aerobic PA in children [61]. However, focusing on adolescents, only one study has so far observed positive effects on cognitive flexibility [13]. In contrast to this and other studies [14], Berse et al [13] used interval training of a rather high intensity (10–14 minutes).…”

“…However, focusing on adolescents, only one study has so far observed positive effects on cognitive flexibility [13]. In contrast to this and other studies [14], Berse et al [13] used interval training of a rather high intensity (10–14 minutes). Therefore, intensity might have been too low in the current study, which could have been responsible for the diverging results.…”

“…A recent meta-analysis [2] showed a significant effect of acute PA on executive functions, however when only studies with adolescents are considered, the results of this meta-analysis are limited to three studies exclusively investigating effects on inhibition [2]. No study with adolescents reported effects on updating, whereas two studies investigated cognitive flexibility, one revealing positive effects on cognitive performance [13] and one showing no effects [14]. These contradictory results are difficult to interpret, as the studies differed not only regarding their measures of cognitive performance and quantitative (intensity, duration) but also qualitative PA characteristics (modality).…”

“…Cognitive engagement in PA is proposed as one important factor fostering these benefits, although the operationalization of cognitive engagement is insufficient so far and studies investigating this relationship might be impeded by procedural differences [4]. In addition, there is a lack of research on adolescence, the reported results are contradictory [13,14] and only a single study specifically investigated the influence of cognitive engagement in PA [7]. The aim of the present study was therefore to clarify the impact of cognitive engagement comprised in PA on executive functions in male adolescents.…”

Acute Aerobic Exercise Based Cognitive and Motor Priming: Practical Applications and Mechanisms

“…A lack of cardiovascular fitness has been linked with cognitive dysfunction and learning deficits in various clinical populations (Katz et al, 2012;Alosco et al, 2014); for this reason, recent research efforts have explored the benefits of aerobic exercise on brain health and cognitive functioning with positive results reported for both healthy and neurocognitively impaired individuals (Stoykov et al, 2017). For example, aerobic exercise has been shown to improve memory, processing speed and executive functioning among those with mental deficiencies (Altmann et al, 2016;Zhu et al, 2018), along with facilitating learning in healthy adults (Young et al, 2015;Venckunas et al, 2016;Stern et al, 2019) and adolescents (Berse et al, 2015).…”