Cognitive Function in Response to an Acute, High Intensity Exercise-Does Gender Plays a Role?
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.main##
The growing evidence favoring the positive effect of exercise on cognition is mostly based on men participants (75%). We therefore exposed females and males to acute exercise and evaluated gender cognitive response to this intervention.
Thirty- two adults (M=17; F=15) ages 18-34 participated in the study. The exercise consisted of ten repetitions: 10 seconds sprints at maximal speed, followed by 50 seconds active recovery. Stroop test (ST) 1-3; Trail-making test (TMT) 1-2; Word fluency were evaluated prior to; immediately post exercise; and at 45’ recovery. Two-way ANOVA with repeated measures (three test points X 2 gender groups) was used to test the effect of exercise on cognitive performance.
All participants reached close to maximal heart rates at the end of the 10th sprint round. Stroop 1- 2 results improved for both males and females from pre to post exercise (p<0.01). After 45’ males returned to pre-exercise while females retained high values. For Stroop 3 both genders improved from pre to post (p<0.01) and retained high values after 45’. For TMT-1 males showed no response while females’ results improved immediately and at 45’ post intervention (p<0.01). For TMT-2 both genders improved after exercise (p<0.01); however, only females continued improving at 45’ recovery. Word fluency was positively affected by exercise in males only.
Acute bout of exercise has a positive immediate effect on cognitive performance both in males and females; whereas males returned to pre-intervention values at 45’ min recovery, females retained the positive effect of exercise also after 45 minutes.
References
Bao, A. M., & Swaab, D. F. (2011). Sexual differentiation of the human brain: Relation to gender identity, sexual orientation and neuropsychiatric disorders. Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology, 32(2), 214–226.
Barella, L. A., Etnier, J. L., & Chang, Y. K. (2010). The immediate and delayed effects of an acute bout of exercise on cognitive performance of healthy older adults. Journal of Aging & Physical Act, 18, 87–98.
Borg, G. A. (1982). Psychophysical bases of perceived exertion. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 14(5), 377–381.
Brucki, S. M. D., & Rocha, M. S. G. (2004). Category fluency test: effects of age, gender and education on total scores, clustering and switching in Brazilian Portuguese-speaking subjects. Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research, 37(12), 1771–1777.
Chang, Y. K., & Etnier, L. J. (2009). Exploring the dose-response relationship between resistance exercise intensity and cognitive function. Journal of Sports Exercise Psychology, 31 (5), 640–656.
Chang, Y. K., Labban, J. D., Gapin, J. I., & Etnier, J. L. (2012). The effects of acute exercise on cognitive performance: a meta-analysis. Brain Research. May 9, 1453:87–101.
Chang, Y.K., Chu, C. H., Wang, C. C., Wang, Y. C., Song, T. F., Tsai, C. L., & Etnier, J. L. (2015a). Dose-response relation between exercise duration and cognition. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 47(1), 159–165.
Colcombe, S., & Kramer, A. F. (2003). Fitness effects on the cognitive function of older adults: A meta-analytic study. Psychological Science, 14, 125–130.
Cooper, S. B., Bandelow, S., Nute, M. L., Dring, K. J., Stannard, R.L., Morris, J. G., & Nevill, M. E. (2016). Sprint-based exercise and cognitive function in adolescents. Preventive Medicine Reports, 4, 155–161.
Cooper, S. B., Dring, K. J., Williams, R. C., Hatch, L., Morris, J. G., Sunderland, C., & Nevill, M. E. (2019). Effect of exercise duration on cognitive function in adolescents. 24th Annual Congress of the European Congress of Sport Sciences, Prague-Czech Republic (653).
Dinoff, A., Herrmann, N., Swardfager, W., & Lanctôt, K. L. (2017). The effect of acute exercise on blood concentrations of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in healthy adults: a meta-analysis. European Journal in Neuroscience. 46(1), 1635–46.
Donnelly, J. E., Hillman, C. H., Castelli, D. M., Etnier, J.L., Lee, S., Tomporowski, P. D., Lambourne, K., & Szabo-Reed, A. N. (2016). Physical activity, fitness, cognitive function, and academic achievement in children: A systematic review. Medical Science Sports Exercise, 48(6), 1197–1222.
Hakala, J. O, Rovio, S. P., Pahkala, K., Nevalainen J., Juonala, M. et al. (2019). Physical activity from childhood to adulthood and cognitive performance in midlife. Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise., May51(5), 882–890.
Erickson, K., I, Hillman, Ch., Stillman, Ch. M., Ballard, R. M., Bloodgood B. et al. (2019). Physical activity, cognition, and brain outcomes: a review of the 2018 physical activity guidelines. Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise, Jun;51(6), 1242–1251.
Esteban-Cornejo, I., Tejero-Gonzalez, C. M., Sallis, J. F., & Veiga, O. L. (2015). Physical activity and cognition in adolescents: A systematic review. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 18(5), 534–539.
Harveson, A. T., Hannon, J. C., Brusseau, T. A, Podlog, L., Papadopoulos, C., Durrant, L. H., & Kang, K. D. (2016). Acute effects of 30 minutes resistance and aerobic exercise on cognition in a high school sample. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 87(2), 214–222.
Hillman, Ch., Motl, R. W., Pontifex, M. B., Posthuma, D., Stubbe, J. H., Boomsma, D. I., & de Geus, E. J. C. (2006). Physical activity and cognitive function in a cross-section of younger and older community-dwelling individuals. Health Psychology, 25(6), 678–687. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-6133.25.6.678.
Hillman, Ch., Buck, S. M., Themanson, J. R., Pontifex, M. B., & Castelli, D. M. (2009). Aerobic fitness and cognitive development: Event-related brain potential and task performance indices of executive control in preadolescent children. Developmental Psychology, 45(1), 114–129.
Hillman, Ch., Pontifex, M. B, Castelli, D.M., Khan, N. A., Raine, L. B. et al. (2014). Effects of the FITKids Randomized Controlled Trial on Executive Control and Brain Function. Pediatrics. 134 (4): e1063–e1071.
Kim, H. J., Baek, M. J., & Kim, S. (2014). Alternative type of the trail making test in nonnative English-speakers: the trail making test-black & white. Plos One. 9(2), e89078.
Li, J. W., O’Connor, H., O’Dwyer, N., & Orr, R. (2017). The effect of acute and chronic exercise on cognitive function and academic performance in adolescents: A systematic review. Journal of Science & Medicine in Sport, 20(9), 841–8.
Loonstra, A. S., Tarlow, A.R., & Sellers, A. H. (2001). COWAT meta norms across age, education, and gender. Applied Neuropsychology, 8(3), 161–166.
Megan, M. H., & Xiaofang, Ch. (2017). Exercise, Cognition, and the Adolescent Brain. Birth Defects Research., Dec 1, 109(20), 1672–1679.
Northey, J. M., Cherbuin, N., Pumpa, K. L., Smee, D. J., & Rattray, B. (2018). Exercise interventions for cognitive function in adults older than 50: a systematic review with meta-analysis. British Journal of Sports Medicine., Feb 52(3), 154–160.
Pilz- Burstein, R., Luzon, Y., Moran, D. S. (2021). Exercise intensity when adjusted for an individual’s maximal aerobic power positively affects executive functions in young adults. Journal of Physical. Education & Sport, 21(2), 783–790.
Porter, J. N., Collins, P. F., Muetzel, R. L., Lim, K. O., & Luciana, M. (2011). Associations Between Cortical Thickness and Verbal Fluency in Childhood, Adolescence, and Young Adulthood. Neuroimage, Apr 15, 55(4), 1865–1877.
Rodríguez-Aranda, C., & Martinussen, M. (2006). Age-related differences in performance of phonemic verbal fluency measured by controlled oral word association task (COWAT): A meta-analytic study. Developmental Neuropsychology, 30(2), 697–717.
Sallis, J. F. (2010). We do not have to sacrifice children’s health to achieve academic goals. Journal of Pediatrics, 156, 711–718.
Salthouse, T. A. (2011). What cognitive abilities are involved in trail-making performance? Intelligence, 39(4), 222–232 T.
Samuel, R. D., Zavdy, O., Levav, M., Reuveny, R., Katz, U., & Dubnov-Raz, G. (2017). The effects of maximal intensity exercise on cognitive performance in children. Journal of Human Kinetics, Sec II‐ Exercise Physiology & Sports Medicine, 57, 85–96.
Scarpina, F., & Tagini, S. (2017). The Stroop color and word test. Frontiers in Psychol, 8(557), 1–8.
Stroop, J. R. (1935). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 18, 643–662.
Tomporowski, P. D., Davis, C. L., Miller, P. H., & Naglieri, J. A. (2008). Exercise and children’s intelligence, cognition, and academic achievements. Educational Psychology Review, 20(2), 111–131.
Tomporowski, P. D., Lambourne, K., & Okumura, M. S. (2011). Physical activity interventions and children’s mental function: an introduction and overview. Preventive Medicine, 52: 3–9.
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.details##

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.