Existing research underscores the positive influence of acute physical activity (PA) on cognition, including executive functions and episodic memory. However, it remains unclear whether the timing of assessment influences the extent and the patterns of cognitive improvements following acute PA, particularly in emerging adults. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of acute PA across different cognitive domains (episodic memory, working memory, and inhibitory control) at different time windows in emerging adults. Using a within-participants cross-over design, thirty emerging adults ( n = 30; 22.4 ± 1.6 years; 21 females) visited the lab on two separate days engaging in either 30-minutes of moderate-intensity PA or seated rest. Participants completed a battery of cognitive tasks at pre- and post-acute PA and seated rest including a word recognition task (encoding phase completed 5–8 minutes post PA and rest; recall phase completed 29–33 minutes post PA and rest), a change detection dot task (completed 9–28 minutes post PA and rest), and a modified flanker task (34–38 minutes post PA and rest). Results revealed improved memory recall performance, specifically for primacy and recency accuracy. However, results for the change detection and the flanker task revealed no change after acute PA compared to seated rest. Together, these results reveal temporal specific effects and suggest that the timing of cognitive assessment following is critical for capturing cognitive benefits of acute PA, especially in emerging adults.

While short bouts of exercise are known to improve cognitive and academic performance in children, the underlying neural mechanisms driving these changes remain unclear. This study evaluates the effects of short (9-min) acute bouts of exercise (high intensity interval exercise, HIIE; moderate-intensity cycling) on error-related negativity (ERN), and academic achievement. School-aged children (n = 25; ages 9-12) participated in a within-subjects, crossover design, completing one of three conditions (HIIE, moderate-intensity cycling, and seated rest) on three separate days. ERN was measured using electroencephalography (EEG) during a flanker task. Academic achievement tests were completed following only HIIE and seated rest. HIIE significantly reduced ERN amplitude compared to both cycling and seated rest conditions, suggesting improved neural efficiency in error processing. Children also exhibited improved word recognition fluency following HIIE, with a positive trend observed for decoding fluency. These findings suggest that HIIE sessions can enhance neural markers of error processing and academic performance in children. Further research is necessary to explore the long-term effects and potential for broader cognitive improvements resulting from regular integration of HIIE interventions for children.

The pervasive sedentary lifestyle exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly reduced physical activity (PA) among school-age children, necessitating innovative strategies to evaluate short PA breaks that are feasible in a classroom setting. This study explored the cognitive and neurophysiological (electroencephalography; EEG) impacts of short bouts of different PA modalities on inhibitory control (flanker task) and episodic memory (word recognition task) in children. Utilizing a within-participants cross-over design, thirty-six children (n = 36; 9–12 years old) attended the lab on three separate days with each visit including either a 9 min bout of sustained moderate-intensity cycling, high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE), or seated rest. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were assessed during the flanker task (P3 component) and the word recognition task (LPC and FN400 components) to elucidate the neural mechanisms underpinning behavioral outcomes. Findings indicated no differences in flanker performance but greater episodic memory recall for HIIE compared to seated rest. Neurophysiological results revealed no differences for P3, but notably larger amplitude for LPC and FN400 postcycling, particularly over parietal electrode sites. These results underscore the potential of short PA breaks to improve cognitive and neurocognitive function in children, offering a feasible integration strategy into daily school routines without extensive time commitment.

Animal models of concussion suggest that dysfunctional inhibitory signaling precipitates a state of neuroexcitability that may be a biomarker of functional recovery. Supporting data from humans is limited. PURPOSE: To test relationships between post-concussion symptom burden and areal i) morphology and ii) enrichment with genes coding for inhibitory circuits. METHODS: 50 collegiate athletes (16% female) underwent high-resolution brain structural imaging and reported symptoms 24-48 hours after a diagnosed concussion (T0). 132 age- and gender-matched athletes (20% female) served as controls. Follow-up imaging was performed within 24 hours of medical clearance (T1), after unrestricted return-to-play (T2), and 6 months post-injury (T3). All data were collected as part of CARE 1.0 and retrieved from FITBIR. Individual cortical surfaces were reconstructed and mean cortical thickness (CT) and mean surface area (SA) were calculated for each of 200 areas. Areal features were regressed on sex, age, and sport in controls to generate standardized, aberrant morphometric maps (w-maps) per patient. Areal enrichment of somatostatin (SST), parvalbumin (PAVLB), and GABAA receptor gamma-1 subunit (GABRG1) was quantified using the Allen Human Brain Atlas. A multivariate analysis tested for latent variables as associations between w-maps and symptoms. Pearson correlation coefficients defined associations between brain saliences and gene enrichment. Physiological brain recovery was assessed by comparing individual and group-level changes from T0. RESULTS: Patients with low CT in areas with high GABRG1 enrichment (r = -.24, p < .001) and greater SA in areas with high SST enrichment (r = .25, p < .001) experienced greater symptom burden (permutation-p = .035). Compared to T0, CT increased at T1 and T2 (p < .001) and SA decreased at T2 (p < .001). On average, increases in CT at T1 and T2 occurred in areas that had contributed the most to initial symptom burden at T0 (p < .001). At T3, CT decreased, and SA increased compared to T0 (p < .001). On average, decreases in CT at T3 occurred in areas that had contributed the most to initial symptom burden at T0 (p < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Post-concussion symptom profiles were associated with persistent patterns of aberrant CT and SA in areas expressing genes associated with inhibitory interneurons.

The present investigation examined the acute effects of high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) on temporal changes in behavioral and neuroelectrical indices of working memory. Young adults (n = 22) performed a visual working memory change detection task of equiprobable 2- to 5-dot set sizes while contralateral delay activity (CDA) and N2pc ERP components were assessed at three consecutive time periods (40-min, 54-min, and 68-min) following three separate counterbalanced 9-min sessions of seated rest, HIIE-aerobic (treadmill intervals of moderate- and high-intensity run/walk periods) and HIIE-aerobic/resistance (intervals of rest and body-weight calisthenics). Behavior results revealed greater 4-dot accuracy for HIIE-aerobic/resistance compared to seated rest only at 40-min, maintenance of 5-dot accuracy across time for HIIE-aerobic compared to HIIE-aerobic/resistance and seated rest, and greater temporal stability in overall accuracy performance (i.e., inter-class correlation between temporally adjacent assessments) for both HIIE conditions compared to seated rest. CDA and N2pc results revealed no change in amplitude across time and between HIIE-aerobic, HIIE-aerobic/resistance, and seated rest. However, greater temporal stability in CDA amplitude was observed for HIIE-aerobic compared to seated rest. These findings suggest that short bouts of HIIE may serve as an effective modality for improvements and temporal stabilization in behavior with some evidence for stabilization of neuroelectrical indices of working memory capacity. Together, these data broadly suggest that short acute bouts of exercise may facilitate improvements in underlying mental operations responsible for temporal stability in cognitive and neurocognitive function.

Although the acute effect of exercise on behavioral cognitive performance is well-documented in the exercise psychology field, a comprehensive evaluation on neuroelectric brain activity that determines healthy cognitive functioning following acute exercise is lacking. This systematic review included 39 studies examining acute exercise effects on P3 of event-related potential through its amplitude and latency, which reflect the amounts of attentional resources allocated to and the processing speed for categorizing a stimulus. Exercise has small effects on increasing amplitude and decreasing latency. The amplitude effect was moderated by age and the type, intensity, and duration of exercise, with a smaller effect being observed for individuals aged <= 18 and 19-35 than >60 years, for high-intensity than moderate-intensity exercise, for high-intensity interval training exercise than aerobic, resistance, and combined exercise, as well as for exercise lasting <= 10 and 11-20 than exercise lasting 21-30 min. The latency effect was moderated by exercise duration, with 11-20 min exercise showing a smaller effect than exercise lasting <= 10 min. These results demonstrated that acute exercise enhances allocation of attentional resources and processing speed needed to implement cognitive processes underlying goal-directed behavior. Further, these effects may be manipulated through targeting specific age groups and prescribing specific exercise parameters.

Acute aerobic high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) has demonstrated positive effects on inhibitory control and P3 event-related potential (ERP) in young adults. However, the evidence is not well established regarding the effects of different HIIE modalities that incorporate aerobic-resistance training on these cognitive and neurocognitive outcomes. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the transient effects of HIIE-aerobic and HIIE-aerobic/resistance on P3 and Flanker task performance. Participants (n = 24; 18–25 years old) completed the Flanker task at two time points (30 min and 85 min) following 9 min of HIIE-aerobic (intermittent bouts of walking and running at 90% of maximal heart rate), HIIE-aerobic/resistance (intermittent bouts of walking and high-intensity calisthenics), and seated rest on three separate counterbalanced days. Results revealed no changes in Flanker performance (i.e., reaction time and response accuracy) or P3 (latency and mean amplitude) following either HIIE conditions compared to seated rest. Together, these data suggest inhibitory control and neuroelectric underpinnings are not affected by different modalities of HIIE at 30 min and 85 min post-exercise. Such findings reveal that engaging in short bouts of different HIIE modalities for overall health neither improves nor diminishes inhibitory control and brain function for an extended period throughout the day.

Purpose: Research suggests that individual differences in baseline cognitive performance moderates subsequent cognitive benefits following a single bout of exercise. The present study seeks to evaluate additional moderating mental states - specifically positive affect - on inhibitory control and affect following exercise. Methods: Using a within- and between-participants pre-post cross-over design, eighty university students (54 females; 21.7 +/- 2.7 years old) completed a flanker task and affect measures before and after a single bout of aerobic exercise at a self-selected intensity or studying for class (15-min) on separate days. Groups of high-positive affect (HPA; n = 41) and low-positive affect (LPA; n = 39) were determined based on a median split of positive affect measures prior to the exercise bout. Results: The HPA group revealed shorter reaction time (RT) from before to after exercise and rest with no difference observed between exercise and rest. The LPA group revealed shorter RT after exercise compared to before exercise and after rest. For accuracy, the LPA group improved performance during the exercise session compared to the rest session to a level comparable to the HPA group. Lastly, positive affect decreased in the LPA and HPA groups from before to after rest; however, only the LPA group's positive affect increased from before to after exercise. Conclusion: Individuals with low positive affect experience greater cognitive and positive affect improvements following acute aerobic exercise at a self-select intensity, further supporting intraindividual differences in mental states as a mechanism for subsequent cognitive and affective benefits encompassing healthy behaviors of exercise.