The Effects of High-Intensity Acute Exercise on Face-Name Memory in Healthy Young Adults

Abstract

The majority of previous research evaluating the effects of acute exercise on episodic memory function have focused on explicit memory tasks involving word-list paradigms. For a more real-world application, the present experiment evaluates whether high-intensity acute exercise can improve episodic memory function of incidentally processed information as well as increase one's ability to remember names associated with faces (face-name paradigm). A two-arm, parallel-group, randomized controlled intervention was employed. Participants (N = 91; M age = 20 years) were randomized into one of two groups, including an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group exercised for 20 min on a treadmill at a high-intensity (75% of heart rate reserve), while the control group engaged in a seated, time-matched task. Explicit memory was assessed from an intentional processing face-name paradigm in which participants encoded and subsequently recalled names that were paired with faces. Episodic memory for incidentally processed information was evaluated with a computerized program involving spatial-temporal integration. The mean (SD) number of correctly recalled face-name pairs between the exercise and control groups, respectively, for immediate memory were 11.16 (4.4) and 9.79 (4.3), P > 0.05. Results were similar for incidentally processed information, in that there were no differences between the exercise [7.30 (1.7)] and control [7.52 (1.9)] groups, P > 0.05. Overall, we did not observe evidence that high-intensity acute exercise improves episodic memory for incidentally or intentionally processed information.

Effects of acute exercise intensity on source episodic memory and metamemory accuracy

“…A recent experiment evaluated whether acute, moderate-intensity aerobic exercise was associated with an increased ability to remember face-name pairs (Farris & Loprinzi, 2019); no significant differences were observed between exercise and control conditions. Similar results were obtained in a follow-up experiment (Gilbert & Loprinzi, 2021). A different experiment evaluated whether moderate-intensity aerobic exercise was associated with source episodic memory, assessed via a word-list memory task, with half of the words in green font and the other half in red font (Rigdon & Loprinzi, 2019).…”

“…Although the acute exercise group recalled more total words than the control group, there was no difference in source memory recognition (recognition of red vs. green words) between the two groups. These prior studies (Etnier et al, 2016;Farris and Loprinzi (2019) Gilbert & Loprinzi, 2021;Rigdon & Loprinzi, 2019) suggest that there may be an intensity-specific effect of exercise on source memory. However, additional work is needed to confirm this possibility.…”