Effects and Moderators of Acute Aerobic Exercise on Subsequent Interference Control: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Background: Acute aerobic exercise leads to positive physiological adaptations within the central nervous system. These findings inspired research on potential cognitive benefits following acute aerobic exercise. The effects of acute aerobic exercise on subsequent cognitive performance, by far, have been the most researched for interference control, a subcomponent of executive function. The results of primary studies on the effects of acute aerobic exercise on subsequent interference control performance are inconsistent. Therefore, we used meta-analytic methods to pool available effect sizes, and to identify covariates that determine the magnitude of exercise-induced interference control benefits.Methods: Medline, PsycINFO, and SPORTDiscus were searched for eligible records. Hedges' g corrected standardized mean difference values (SMDs) were used for analyses. Random-effects weights were used to pool effect sizes. Moderator analyses were conducted using meta-regressions and subgroups analyses. Covariates that were here tested for moderation included parameters of the applied exercise regimen (exercise intensity and exercise duration), characteristics of examined participants (age and fitness), and methodological features of existing research (type of control group, familiarization with test procedure, type of test variable, delay between exercise cessation, and testing).Results: Fifty studies, with data from 2,366 participants, were included in qualitative and quantitative synthesis. A small, significant beneficial effect of acute aerobic exercise on time-dependent measures of interference control was revealed (k = 49, Hedges' g = −0.26, 95%CI: −34 to −0.18). Effect sizes from time-dependent measures of interference control varied widely and heterogeneity reached statistical significance (T2 = 0.0557, I2 = 28.8%). Moderator analyses revealed that higher exercise intensities (vigorous intensity and high-intensity interval training), also participants at younger or older age, and participants who are familiar with the testing procedure prior to the experiment, benefitted most from acute aerobic exercise. However, noticeable heterogeneity remained unexplained within specific subgroups (high-intensity interval training, preadolescent children, and active and supervised control group).Conclusion: Acute aerobic exercise improves subsequent interference control performance. However, the covariates exercise intensity, participants' age, and familiarization with testing procedure determine the magnitude of that effect. Methodological features were not found to influence the magnitude of effects. This dismisses some doubts that exercise induced benefits for interference control performance are scientific artifacts. The fact that large heterogeneity remained unexplained in some subgroups indicates the need for further research on covariates within these subgroups. It should be noted that effect sizes for all analyses were small.

The Contribution of Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging to the Understanding of the Effects of Acute Physical Exercise on Cognition

“…Furthermore, the results of Li et al [106] and Mehren et al [101] suggest that changes in functional brain activation patterns depend on (i) the cardiorespiratory fitness level, (ii) the exercise protocol, and (iii) sex. Although the number of fMRI studies in this area is limited, the moderating roles of (i) cardiorespiratory fitness levels [30], (ii) exercise intensity [30,200], and (iii) sex [30] are in accordance with the literature in summarizing the effects of acute physical exercise on behavioral performance. Thus, there is good reason to assume that investigations using fMRI can help to elucidate the effects of the mentioned moderators on neural correlates.…”

Short-Term Effects of Single-Session Split-Belt Treadmill Training on Dual-Task Performance in Parkinson's Disease and Healthy Elderly

“…A recent systematic review ( 18 ) on the cognitive effects of acute aerobic exercise showed that short bouts of aerobic exercise improve interference control—a subcomponent of inhibition and closely linked to dual-task performance ( 19 ). Moderator analyses further revealed that effects were larger in age groups with poorer interference control such as preadolescent children and older adults.…”

Effects and Moderators of Computer-Based Training on Children's Executive Functions: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…During childhood and adolescence, the behavioral and neural plasticity is particularly high, and the brain regions serving EF (i.e., the prefrontal lobe) are specifically sensitive to environmental influences (Bull et al, 2011). Furthermore, the findings on empirical studies and meta-analysis show converging evidence of stronger training and transfer effects on children than on adults (Karbach and Kray, 2009;Karbach and Unger, 2014;Zhao et al, 2016;Oberste et al, 2019). Therefore, we included children as the target age group to investigate the characteristics of EF training effect.…”