Aftereffects of Cognitively Demanding Acute Aerobic Exercise on Working Memory

Purpose This study examined the aftereffects of cognitively demanding acute aerobic exercise on working memory in middle-aged individuals. Methods In a within-participants design, middle-aged males (n = 28) performed a 2-back task to assess working memory before, immediately after, and 30 min after the following three interventions: 1) a rest-cognition intervention, in which they performed a cognitive task on a cycle ergometer without exercising; 2) an exercise-cognition intervention, in which they simultaneously exercised on a cycle ergometer and performed a cognitive task; and 3) an exercise-only intervention, in which they only exercised on a cycle ergometer. Results The exercise-only intervention resulted in increased hit rate and decreased reaction times and intraindividual variability on correct rejection trials, suggesting that simple aerobic exercise had a beneficial impact on working memory. By contrast, the exercise-cognition intervention resulted in increased intraindividual variability on correct rejection trials, which is suggestive of cognitive fatigue resulting from the additional cognitive demands. Such a decline was not observed even in the rest-cognition condition. Conclusion Cognitive fatigue caused by additional cognitive demands during aerobic exercise may cancel beneficial post-exercise effects on working memory. Cognitively demanding acute aerobic exercise appears to be less effective than simple aerobic exercise in improving executive function. Author Note Keita Kamijo is now at Faculty of Engineering, Information and Systems, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan, and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. Corresponding author: Keita Kamijo, Ph.D. 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8573 JAPAN, Phone/fax: +81-29-853-5011, E-mail: ktakamijo@gmail.com This work was supported by Shimano Inc. This work was also supported in part by MEXT-Supported Program for the Strategic Research Foundation at Private Universities, 2015-2019 from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (S1511017). Keita Kamijo has no conflicts of interest to disclose. Ryuji Abe is an employee of Shimano Inc. The results of the present study do not constitute endorsement by the American College of Sports Medicine. The results of this study are presented clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification, or inappropriate data manipulation. Submitted for publication June 2018. Accepted for publication August 2018. © 2018 American College of Sports Medicine

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