Elsevier

Acta Psychologica

Volume 112, Issue 3, March 2003, Pages 297-324
Acta Psychologica

Effects of acute bouts of exercise on cognition

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0001-6918(02)00134-8Get rights and content

Abstract

A review was conducted of studies that assessed the effects of acute bouts of physical activity on adults’ cognitive performance. Three groups of studies were constituted on the basis of the type of exercise protocol employed. Each group was then evaluated in terms of information-processing theory. It was concluded that submaximal aerobic exercise performed for periods up to 60 min facilitate specific aspects of information processing; however, extended exercise that leads to dehydration compromises both information processing and memory functions. The selective effects of exercise on cognitive performance are explained in terms of Sanders’ [Acta Psychol. 53 (1983) 61] cognitive-energetic model.

Introduction

Proponents of exercise report that brief bouts of exercise help them think more clearly and improve their mood and psychological well-being. There is considerable support for the view that an acute bout of exercise has a positive impact on mood states and affect (Morgan & O’Connor, 1988; Raglin, 1997). A panel of experts conducting a review of research for the National Institute of Mental Health concluded that exercise is positively related to several indices of mental health (Morgan, 1984). Exercise is associated with a reduction in physiological measures of stress and psychological measures such as anxiety and depression. Further, exercise is associated with elevations in mood states and heightened psychological well-being (Berger, 1996; Shephard, 1996). The view that bouts of physical activity influence cognitive function is less well substantiated by empirical research, however. An early review of the exercise literature found little support for the notion that exercise significantly influences cognition (Tomporowski & Ellis, 1986). A similar conclusion was reached in more recent reviews (Etnier et al., 1997; McMorris & Graydon, 2000).

The present review evaluates the exercise literature in terms of an information-processing model of cognition (Proctor, Reeve, & Weeks, 1990). This model assumes that behavior is the result of information that is extracted from the environment and processed through a series of three non-overlapping stages, each operating independently of the others. The three stages include the stimulus-identification stage, which involves a number of discrete processes through which sensory events are transformed and given meaning; the response-selection stage, which is characterized by processes that determine what response, if any, will be made to an environmental event; and the response-programming stage, which prepares the motor system for movement. Considerable experimental research conducted over the past four decades has isolated and examined the function of a variety of information-processing system components. The information-processing model has been promoted as a useful framework to assess the impact of such factors as pharmacological agents (Callaway, 1983; Sergeant, Oosterlaan, & van der Meere, 1999; White & Rumbold, 1988) and exercise (Arcelin, Brisswalter, & Delignierres, 1997; Tomporowski & Ellis, 1986) on cognition. A theory-based evaluation of exercise studies grouped on the basis of common methodologies was hypothesized to elucidate exercise–cognition relations not detected in previous reviews.

Section snippets

Review of the literature

The review is limited to exercise studies that involved the activation of the entire body and produce systemic changes in physiological functions (e.g., cardiorespiration, endocrine function, body temperature change) and that assessed the acute effects of this activation on cognitive performance; that is, measures of cognitive performance were taken while the individual was in the process of exercising or shortly following the termination of exercise. The studies selected for evaluation were

General summary

A review was conducted of studies that examine the effects of acute bouts of exercise on cognitive functioning. Studies were separated into one of three groups on the basis of the focus of the experimental question investigated and on the basis of the intensity and duration of the exercise protocols employed. One group focused on the construct of fatigue and studies employed brief, maximal exercise protocols. A second group focused on the construct of arousal and studies employed both maximal

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