The Immediate and Delayed Effects of an Acute Bout of Exercise on Cognitive Performance of Healthy Older Adults

Abstract

Research on the acute effects of exercise on cognitive performance by older adults is limited by a focus on nonhealthy populations. Furthermore, the duration of cognitive improvements after exercise has not been examined. Thus, this study was designed to test the immediate and delayed effects of acute exercise on cognitive performance of healthy older adults. Cognitive performance was assessed using the Stroop task. Participants were randomly assigned to an exercise (20 min of walking) or control (sitting quietly) condition. The Stroop task was administered at baseline and at 12 time points after treatment. Acute exercise resulted in better Stroop test performance immediately postexercise; however, the effects were limited to the color test. No effects of exercise on performance were observed for the Stroop interference or inhibition tests. Findings suggest that acute exercise performed by healthy older adults has short-term benefits for speed of processing but does not affect other types of cognitive functioning.

Effects of Acute Soccer Game on Serum Levels of Neurotrophins and Neurocognitive Functions in Male Adolescents

“…This result supports the reports of the preceding researches that acute exercise could improve neurocognitive function as judged by the Stroop test of brain function [5,38]; and that proper exercise could positively promote human cognitive processes, such as memory, perception and problem-solving ability [17]. More concretely, Yanagisawa et al…”

“…Barella et al (2010) also reported that significantly higher Stroop test score was achieved by healthy elderly people who had been treated with 20 minutes of waking exercise, compared to the control group that had been seated to take a rest [5]. In addition, Gu et al (1992) subdivided a group of teen agers into an exercise group (EG) and a control group (CG) to examine their memory, perception and problem-solving ability after exercise (in the case of EG), or after study or reading (in the case of CG), and the result showed that higher scores were achieved by EG in all the items.…”

An Acute Bout of Exercise Improves the Cognitive Performance of Older Adults

“…Participants performed each exercise for two minutes, and 6 passively rested for 30 seconds between exercises. Participants were asked to exercise at a 7 comfortably intense workload (RPE 13 = somewhat hard to 14 = sweating, still able to talk, but 8 don't want to) and were able to adjust the weight lifted during each set to maintain this workload.…”

“…In short, prior to analyses, erroneous 14 data, including undetected or non-relevant verbal responses, was manually identified and omitted 15 (Barella, et al, 2010). 16 …”

Efectos de un programa perceptivo-motor en la respuesta de reacción en mayores / Effects Of A Perceptual-Motor Program In Response Reaction To Older People pp. 105-121

“…Así, por ejemplo, al revisar la literatura parece haber una opinión generalizada de que el ejercicio aeróbico mejora las funciones cognitivas (Aley et al, 2007;Barella, Etnier y Chang, 2010;Kamijo et al, 2009). …”