Abstract
Physical and cognitive exercises have positive long-term effects on cognitive
capacities. However, acute effects still are controversial. Here we determine
the acute effects of physical exercise combined with concurrent cognitive
exercise on cognitive performance in young adults. Simple reaction time,
selective attention, and memory were evaluated in 23 young men before and after
30 min of stationary cycling exercise, 30 min of stationary
cycling exercise combined with cognitive exercise, and 30 min of rest.
Exercise intensity was continuously controlled to ensure exercise at moderate
intensity. We found that physical exercise combined with cognitive dual-task
improves selective attention. Both exercise conditions showed similar effects on
simple reaction time, and memory was not affected by the different exercise
conditions. We conclude that the combination of cycling exercise at moderate
intensity with a cognitive exercise acutely improves selective attention in
young adults. These results can be of particular interest for interventions
aiming at improving selective attention in sports and for older adults and
individuals with difficulty to suppress and filter out task-irrelevant
information, like when receiving instruction or learning a new task or
concept.
Key words
physical exercise - dual-task - acute effort - cognition
