Functioning of the Attentional Networks at Rest vs. During Acute Bouts of Aerobic Exercise

Huertas, Florentino; Zahonero, Javier; Sanabria, Daniel; Lupiáñez, Juan

doi:10.1123/jsep.33.5.649

Cited by 39 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…The fact that previous studies have not found such an effect in young participants may be due to factors such as the type of exercise (acute instead of chronic in Huertas et al’s study [13]) or the insufficient amount of exercise practice by active participants [19].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

The Effects of Chronic Exercise on Attentional Networks

Pérez

Padilla

Parmentier³

et al. 2014

PLoS ONE

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The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that chronic physical exercise improves attentional control in young healthy participants. To do this, we compared the performance of physically active and passive participants in the Attentional Network Task, which allows for the assessment of the executive, orienting and alerting networks. The results showed a selective positive effect of exercise on the executive network. These results extend the evidence gathered in children, older adults and certain clinical populations suggesting that exercise can also improve attentional control in healthy young adults.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

The Effects of Chronic Exercise on Attentional Networks

Pérez

Padilla

Parmentier³

et al. 2014

PLoS ONE

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“…In order to further identify the neural circuitry involved in the executive function, Rueda et al [26] had developed an integrated Attention Network Test (ANT) using flanker task [27] to measure the efficiency of three networks in adults. It showed that moderate aerobic exercise modulated the functioning of phasic alertness by increasing the general state of tonic vigilance [28], but aerobic exercise did not modulate the functioning of either the orienting or the executive control attentional networks. This may account for the dissimilar results based on other executive function tests, because these tests tap into the selective attention and orientation responses rather than into the conflict resolution process for interference.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improvement of Processing Speed in Executive Function Immediately following an Increase in Cardiovascular Activity

Tam

2013

Cardiovascular Psychiatry and Neurology

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This study aims to identify the acute effects of physical exercise on specific cognitive functions immediately following an increase in cardiovascular activity. Stair-climbing exercise is used to increase the cardiovascular output of human subjects. The color-naming Stroop Test was used to identify the cognitive improvements in executive function with respect to processing speed and error rate. The study compared the Stroop results before and immediately after exercise and before and after nonexercise, as a control. The results show that there is a significant increase in processing speed and a reduction in errors immediately after less than 30 min of aerobic exercise. The improvements are greater for the incongruent than for the congruent color tests. This suggests that physical exercise induces a better performance in a task that requires resolving conflict (or interference) than a task that does not. There is no significant improvement for the nonexercise control trials. This demonstrates that an increase in cardiovascular activity has significant acute effects on improving the executive function that requires conflict resolution (for the incongruent color tests) immediately following aerobic exercise more than similar executive functions that do not require conflict resolution or involve the attention-inhibition process (for the congruent color tests).

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“…Previous research combining the investigation of different attentional networks have been performed only in the area of acute exercise research by adopting Posner and Petersen’s (1990) attention network test that combines in one task warning signals prior to targets (alerting), cues that direct attention toward potential target locations (orienting) and target stimuli surrounded by congruent or incongruent flankers (executive control; Huertas et al, 2011; Chang et al, 2015). Differently, the attentional test developed by Pesce et al (2003) and used for the present study merges typical features of the spatial orienting paradigm (Chica et al, 2014) with hierarchically built visual objects that contain global or local target features (Navon, 1977).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, this special focus on PA effects on executive function is well justified, but has led, with specific regard to the PA-attention relationship, to a disproportional interest for the attentional networks responsible for executive control and to a relative neglect of the other attentional networks the executive control network is strictly intertwined with. The study of PA effects on attentional orienting is mainly limited to the effects of acute bouts of exercise in young active adults (Pesce et al, 2007b; Huertas et al, 2011; Sanabria et al, 2011; Luque-Casado et al, 2013; Chang et al, 2015; Llorens et al, 2015). The only two attentional orienting studies performed with older adults have tested the moderation of acute exercise effects by chronic PA participation (Pesce et al, 2007a, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Steps to Health in Cognitive Aging: Effects of Physical Activity on Spatial Attention and Executive Control in the Elderly

Condello

Forte

Falbo

et al. 2017

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate whether physical activity (PA) habits may positively impact performance of the orienting and executive control networks in community-dwelling aging individuals and diabetics, who are at risk of cognitive dysfunction. To this aim, we tested cross-sectionally whether age, ranging from late middle-age to old adulthood, and PA level independently or interactively predict different facets of the attentional performance. Hundred and thirty female and male individuals and 22 adults with type 2 diabetes aged 55–84 years were recruited and their daily PA (steps) was objectively measured by means of armband monitors. Participants performed a multifunctional attentional go/no-go reaction time (RT) task in which spatial attention was cued by means of informative direct cues of different sizes followed by compound stimuli with local and global target features. The performance efficiency of the orienting networks was estimated by computing RT differences between validly and invalidly cued trials, that of the executive control networks by computing local switch costs that are RT differences between switch and non-switch trials in mixed blocks of global and local target trials. In regression analyses performed on the data of non-diabetic elderlies, overall RTs and orienting effects resulted jointly predicted by age and steps. Age predicted overall RTs in low-active individuals, but orienting effects and response errors in high-active individuals. Switch costs were predicted by age only, with larger costs at older age. In the analysis conducted with the 22 diabetics and 22 matched non-diabetic elderlies, diabetic status and daily steps predicted longer and shorter RTs, respectively. Results suggest that high PA levels exert beneficial, but differentiated effects on processing speed and attentional networks performance in aging individuals that partially counteract the detrimental effects of advancing age and diabetic status. In conclusion, adequate levels of overall PA may positively impinge on brain efficiency and attentional control and should be therefore promoted by actions that support lifelong PA participation and impact the built environment to render it more conducive to PA.

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Functioning of the Attentional Networks at Rest vs. During Acute Bouts of Aerobic Exercise

Cited by 39 publications

References 45 publications

The Effects of Chronic Exercise on Attentional Networks

The Effects of Chronic Exercise on Attentional Networks

Improvement of Processing Speed in Executive Function Immediately following an Increase in Cardiovascular Activity

Steps to Health in Cognitive Aging: Effects of Physical Activity on Spatial Attention and Executive Control in the Elderly

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