Randomized controlled trial evaluating the temporal effects of high‐intensity exercise on learning, short‐term and long‐term memory, and prospective memory

Abstract

The broader purpose of this study was to examine the temporal effects of high-intensity exercise on learning, short-term and long-term retrospective memory and prospective memory. Among a sample of 88 young adult participants, 22 were randomized into one of four different groups: exercise before learning, control group, exercise during learning, and exercise after learning. The retrospective assessments (learning, short-term and long-term memory) were assessed using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test. Long-term memory including a 20-min and 24-hr follow-up assessment. Prospective memory was assessed using a time-based procedure by having participants contact (via phone) the researchers at a follow-up time period. The exercise stimulus included a 15-min bout of progressive maximal exertion treadmill exercise. High-intensity exercise prior to memory encoding (vs. exercise during memory encoding or consolidation) was effective in enhancing long-term memory (for both 20-min and 24-h follow-up assessments). We did not observe a differential temporal effect of high-intensity exercise on short-term memory (immediate post-memory encoding), learning or prospective memory. The timing of high-intensity exercise may play an important role in facilitating long-term memory.

The Experimental Effects of Acute Walking on Cognitive Creativity Performance

“…Participants were recruited from the authors' institution. This sample size is consistent with our other related experimental work on exercise and cognition [3][4][5][6][7]. Participants were ineligible for this study if they were outside the 18-35-year age range, self-reported being a current smoker, had a concussion in the past 30 days, were pregnant, currently taking medication to regulate mood, or took marijuana or other illicit substances in the past 2 days.…”

“…Collectively, the current research suggests that exercise prior to a creativity task may help to facilitate creativity [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. This aligns with other work on exercise and memory [3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Additionally, emerging work suggests that exercising during a defixation period may also help to facilitate creativity [31].…”

“…Encouragingly, emerging work demonstrates that modifiable factors, such as exercise, can enhance various cognitive parameters, such as memory [3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Exercise psychologists have also become increasingly interested in examining whether exercise can enhance other cognitive parameters, namely cognitive creativity.…”

Experimental Effects of Exercise on Forgetting

“…Additionally, and yet to be investigated, we also explore whether acute exercise can facilitate the effects of SDF on memory recall. Previous research demonstrates that acute exercise can facilitate episodic memory [20][21][22][23][24][25][26], but no studies, to date, have examined whether acute exercise can facilitate SDF. Such an effect is plausible given the exercise-induced mechanisms on episodic memory and the cellular basis for directed forgetting.…”

Resistance exercise and episodic memory function: a systematic review

“…Encouragingly, in the older adult population, a cohort vulnerable to age-associated memory impairment, regular participation in aerobic-based physical activity is favourably associated with memory function (Hayes et al, 2015). Aerobic-based physical activity is also favourably associated with memory function among younger, healthier populations (Crush & Loprinzi, 2017;Frith et al, 2017;Loprinzi et al, 2017c;Sng et al, 2017). Mechanisms through which physical activity may influence episodic memory function have been extensively detailed elsewhere (Loprinzi et al, 2017b) and include physical activity-induced alterations in neuronal excitability and neurotropic factor production.…”