Pushing to the limits: The dynamics of cognitive control during exhausting exercise

The Acute Effects of Exercise Intensity on Inhibitory Cognitive Control in Adolescents

“…In accordance with these results, Schmit et al (2015) also found that high intensity exercise improved cognitive performance, although intensity can produce poor cognitive results if it reaches the point of exhaustion. Consistent with this author, as intensity did not reach the point of exhaustion, our participants did not show any cognitive impairment despite the intensity.…”

“…Consistent with this author, as intensity did not reach the point of exhaustion, our participants did not show any cognitive impairment despite the intensity. According to these authors, intensity seems to be more or less adaptive in relation to other factors, such as duration and subject fitness, always avoiding exhaustion (Schmit et al, 2015). In fact, some previous works have considered the relevance of fitness as a variable in the acute exercise effect (Chang et al, 2012).…”

“…By means of this procedure, we respected individual variability in the learning process. Previous studies have used the same intra-variability percentage as a measure of learning stability in inhibition cognitive tests (Schmit et al, 2015). …”

“…In contrast, recent studies have shown that vigorous intensities and different combinations of intensities can improve inhibitory control tasks (Sandroff et al, 2016; Tsukamoto et al, 2016). Furthermore, a linear increase of intensity in an acute bout of exercise did not imply a decline in inhibitory control (Schmit et al, 2015). …”

Cognitive Performance Enhancement Induced by Caffeine, Carbohydrate and Guarana Mouth Rinsing during Submaximal Exercise

“…To date, the accumulated evidence is equivocal and provides an unclear picture of the relationship between exercise intensity and cognitive control. Despite some evidence that suggests an impairment of cognitive control (using a Simon task or a similar conflict task) during exercise [63,64], others [65,66] fail to observe any deteriorations of selective response inhibition or rather report an improvement despite very high physiological stress [67]. In this study, the lack of exercise effect on the interference effect (as shown by the absence of significant block x congruency interaction) suggested that the ability to inhibit prepotent responses remains fully efficient during exercise.…”