Effects Of Exercise On Cognitive Performance: A Study On The Relationship Between Exercise And Essay Detection Task.

Theoretical Background on Cognitive Performance and Exercise

Discuss about the Exercise and Cognitive Performance in a Letter Detection Task.
 

There is varied research related to the effects of exercise on cognitive performance. The underlying principle of these studies is that physiological changes that place in the human body during exercise influence an individual’s cognitive functioning (Chang, Chi, Ethier, Wang, Chu, & Zhou, 2014). There is a beneficial relationship between acute exercise performance and cognitive performance in both cognitive task types and for people participating in various fitness levels. However, a curvilinear relationship between exercise and cognitive task types such as letter detection tasks has been observed. This observation implies that maintaining moderate exercise levels is associated with better execution of cognitive functions. This report highlights the effects of time exercised for on cognitive performance.

The arousal theories form the foundation of a majority of the research done to evaluate the relationship between exercise and cognition. According to the arousal theory, people have a desire to maintain specific arousal levels. If the arousal level is not ideal, people tend to increase or decrease it as needed to reach the desired level (Storbeck & Clore, 2008). The arousal level has a direct influence on cognitive performance. Cognitive abilities are the vital mental skills that influence the lifestyle behavior of people in their daily routines (Alghadir, Gabr, & Al-Eisa, 2016). Therefore, cognitive performance is defined as the ability of an individual to utilize the knowledge gained through the mental processes of the brain (Kamphuis, 2014).

Lambourne and Tomporowski (2010) did a meta-regression analysis to investigate “the effect of exercise-induced-induced arousal on cognitive task performance.” According to the researchers, the arousal theory assumes cognitive performance to be depended on energetical resources allocated to meek task demands.  Further, they argue that different types of exercise influence the type of cognitive activity to be undertaken. For instance, acute exercise is hypothesized to alter brain systems that influence how mental resources are dedicated to cognitive task performance (Lambourne & Tomporowski, 2010). Other studies done on the subject matter such clinical trials, i.e exercise-cognition randomized controlled trials (RCT) have evidenced and supported the casual relationship that exists between exercise and cognition performance (Tandon, et al., 2016; Daly, McMinn, & Allan, 2015; Tabbarah, Crimmins, & Seeman, 2002)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between exercise and a cognitive performance task. Specifically, this study focused in letter detection tasks. This study tends to agree with research done before that exercise has an impact on cognitive performance. There is also a correlation between the arguments put forth on arousal theory and cognitive performance in literature and this study. However, previous studies have mainly focused on the importance of physical activity and its impact on cognitive performance in a given age groups and type specific cognitive activities. This study bridges that gap by taking varied sample size and focusing on a unique cognitive activity – letter detection.

Letter Detection Task: A Unique Cognitive Activity

The research question formulated for this study was: do short term effects exercise has an effect on cognitive performance. Based on the researched literature, background of the study and the underlying theories and arguments, the hypotheses formulated for the study is:

H1:      Cognitive performance will be higher in the 1 minute cycling condition compared to the no cycling condition.

H2:      Cognitive performance will be higher in the 2 minute cycling condition compared to the 1 minute cycling condition. 

416 undergraduate students from the School of Applied Psychology took part in the study as part of their course requirements.  The mean age of the participants was 20.73 years (M = 20.73, SD = 7.28). The participants were grouped into three categorical groups: Group 1 – those who did not participate at all in cycling activity (n = 148), Group 2 – those who participated in a one minute air cycling exercise (n = 131), and Group 3 – those who participate in a 2 minutes air cycling exercise (n = 137).

The exercise task that was carried out is an air-cycling activity. The requirements were: the participants to sit on the chair while holding to the sides of their chair. The participants would then raise their legs and circle them as they would when riding a bike.

A letter detection task was also availed and used to do a test.  The participants were given the dual task of reading a series of passages on a “letter detection paper” while searching for (and circling) all detected instances of a target letter “I” using a pen/pencil. The task took minutes to complete.

The experiment was conducted by first distributing the letter detection paper. Then the participants (class) were split into three groups. Group 1 comprised of those participants who did not do the exercise, those who did not want to, or could not “air cycle.” Group 2 was composed of those would cycle for 1 minute, and Group 3 had participants who would cycle for 2 minutes. Group 3 started air cycling first and they were timed for two minutes. After the first minute, group 2 started to cycle. The two groups stopped cycling after 1 minute from start by group 2 participants. Immediately, following participants were requested to circle the letter “i” while reading the article. The three groups were then requested to count the number of letters they circled and write on a piece of paper their age, their cycling group, and their count of the letter “i”

Meta-Regression Analysis and Randomized Controlled Trials on Arousal Theory and Cognitive Performance

The results obtained from the experiment were recorded and analyzed.  Two category variables were utilized in the study; dependent and independent variables. The independent variable was the time exercised for between-subject variable with 3 levels (no cycling/control, 2 minutes cycling and 1 minute cycling), while the dependent variable was the cognitive performance (number of ‘I’ circled as measured by letter-detection task).

A total of 416 undergraduate students from the School of Applied Psychology took part in the study as part of their course requirements.  These participants were grouped into three categories according to their consent to take part in the experiment. Those who could not do the exercise because of various reasons were 148 in total and were categorized in group 1 (n=148). Group 2 had participants who took the 1 minute air cycling exercise (n=131). The third group had those who participated in a 2 minute exercise (n = 137).

The table below shows an analytical presentation of the data collected from the participants of the study.

Table 1. Descriptive Statistics (Means and Standard Deviations)

The figure below displays the mean scores on the letter detection task for each of the three exercise groups.  Performance was the lowest for the ‘No Exercise’ group (M=63), and highest for the group who exercised for 2 minutes (M = 92).  The group exercising for 1 minute (M = 76) detected more letters than the ‘No Exercise’ group and less than the 2 minute group.

Figure 1. Mean number of letters detected (Cognitive Performance)

Table 2. Independent Sample t-tests Between Exercise Group and Cognitive Performance

*p<.05. **p<.01. ***p<.001.

An independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare cognitive performance in the no exercise control group and the one-minute exercise group. There was a significant difference in the scores for the control group (M= 63, SD=11) and one-minute exercise group (M=76, SD=8) conditions; t(49)= 3.94, p = <.05. A second independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare cognitive performance in the one-minute exercise group and the two-minute exercise group. There was a significant difference in the scores for the one-minute group (M=76, SD=8) and two-minute exercise group (M=92, SD=13) conditions; t(105)=10.68, p = <.05.

In this study, the t values from the t-test were found to be t(49) = 3,94, and t(105) = 10.68. The results showed a significant correlation between physical exercise and cognitive performance. A positive correlation was shown between long activity times and cognitive performance along with negative correlation between little or no activity and cognitive performance in the participants who undertook the study. The data obtained proposed significant interrelations between exercise time and cognitive performance.

The Study: Participants, Exercise Task, and Letter Detection Task

The first hypothesis stated was: cognitive performance will be higher in the 1 minute cycling condition compared to the no cycling condition. The t-test results for this condition gave values t (49) = 3.94, p<.05. In comparison with the mean obtained for these categories, the hypothesis tested positive. A p-value of less than .05 shows that the test is significant. The second hypothesis – cognitive performance will be higher in the 2 minute cycling condition compared to the 1 minute cycling condition – yielded a t-test value of t(13) = 10.68, p <.05. The results showed the hypothesis to be true and the test was significant.

Sources of errors in the study might have been brought about by the limited sample size used. Also, extraneous variables such as the rate at which the participants were doing the exercise were not taken into consideration. This might have results to any errors that might have arisen in the study and lack of validity of the results.

The study was only limited to students taking a psychology course. Future research and studies need to be done over a varied population while considering factors such as gender, age, occupation and affective status of an individual.

In conclusion, there is a significant relationship between exercise and cognitive performance.  People who involve in regular physical exercises have been proved to have strong cognitive abilities than those who do not participate at all or who participate in small amounts. It is also likely that the results from the study are not limited to only exercise but also other factors that affect cognitive performance. 

References

Alghadir, A. H., Gabr, S. A., & Al-Eisa, E. S. (2016). Effects of Moderate Aerobic Exercise on Cognitive Abilities and Redox State Biomarkers in Older Adults. Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity .

Chang, Y. K., Chi, L., Ethier, J. L., Wang, C. C., Chu, C. H., & Zhou, C. (2014). Effect of acute aerobic exercise on cognitive performance: Role of cardiovascular fitness. Psychology of Sport and Exercise , 15 (5), 464-470.

Daly, M., McMinn, D., & Allan, J. L. (2015). A bidirectional relationship between phsyical activity and executive function in older adults. Frontiers in human neuroscience , 8, 1044.

Kamphuis, P. (2014). Cognitive performance and nutrition. The NutriJournal , 15 (4), 234-243.

Lambourne, K., & Tomporowski, P. (2010). The effect of exercise-induced arousal on cognitive task performance: a meta-regression analysis. Brain research , 1314, 12-24.

Storbeck, J., & Clore, G. L. (2008). Affective arousal as information. How affective arousal influences judgements, learning, and memory. Social and personality psychology compass 2 , 2 (5), 1824-1843.

Tabbarah, M., Crimmins, E. M., & Seeman, T. E. (2002). The relationship between cognitive and physical performance: MacArthur Studies of Succeful Aging. The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences , 57 (4), M228-M235.

Tandon, P. S., Tovar, A., Jayasuriya, A. T., Welker, E., Schober, D., Copeland, K., et al. (2016). The relationship between physical activity and diet and young children's cognitive development. Preventive medicine reports , 3, 379-390.