Psychology of Sport and Exercise 11 (2010) 122–126
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Psychology of Sport and Exercise
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/psychsport
The effect of acute physical exercise on cognitive function during development
Dave Ellemberg*, Mathilde St-Louis-Deschênes
Université de Montréal, Département de kinésiologie, Centre de Recherche En Neuropsychologie Et Cognition (CERNEC), 2100 Edouard Montpetit, Montreal, Canada
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history:
Received 3 April 2009
Received in revised form
21 September 2009
Accepted 29 September 2009
Available online 14 October 2009
Although accumulating research suggests that acute physical exercise ameliorates cognitive function in
adults, little is known about the effects of acute exercise on cognition during development. We assessed
simple reaction and choice response times in 7- and 10-year-old boys (n ¼ 36 per age group). Half of the
children completed 30 min of aerobic exercise, whilst the other half watched television. Each child was
tested immediately prior to and immediately following the intervention. Compared to the control group,
the children in the exercise condition showed a significant improvement on both tasks, with a better
outcome for the choice compared to the simple task. These findings indicate that physical exercise also
has an impact on cognitive functioning in children.
Crown Copyright Ó 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Physical exercise
Cognition
Development
Reaction time
Accumulating research with human adults suggests that a single
session of physical exercise ameliorates different aspects of cognitive function immediately after the end of the exercise period,
regardless of fitness level (Brisswalter, Collardeau, & Arcelin, 2002;
Etnier et al., 1997; Tomporowski, 2003). However, until recently the
relationship between acute physical exercise and cognitive function
was not so obvious because the literature on the topic seemed to
provide somewhat contradictory findings. Indeed, whilst a certain
number of studies indicated that short periods of physical exercise
improved cognitive functioning in adults (Hancock & McNaughton,
1986) others either did not find any benefits (Bard & Fleury, 1978;
Cote, Salmela, & Papthanasopoloulu, 1992; Fleury, Bard, Jobin, &
Carriere, 1981) or even reported deterioration of cognitive function
(Cian, Barraud, Melin, & Raphel, 2001; Isaacs & Pohlman, 1991;
Wrisberg & Herbert, 1976).
It has now been more clearly demonstrated that the effect of
physical exercise on cognitive performance depends both on the
intensity and the duration of the exercise (Etnier et al., 1997;
Kamijo, Nishihira, Higashiura, & Kuroiwa, 2007; Tomporowski,
2003). First, intense but brief exercise does not appear to have
much of an effect on brain function (Hancock & McNaughton, 1986;
Tsorbatzoudis, Barkoukis, Danis, & Gouios, 1998). For example, no
change in perception, sensory integration, or visual discrimination
is noted immediately after voluntary physical exhaustion (i.e.,
approximately 10 min of cycling or running at about 150% of
VO2max) (Bard & Fleury, 1978; Fleury et al., 1981). In contrast,
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: dave.ellemberg@umontreal.ca (D. Ellemberg).
prolonged but sub-maximal physical exercise leading to dehydration is associated with a reduction in cognitive performance. For
example, a 2 h run on a treadmill at 65% of VO2max results in
a significant disruption of short-term memory, psycho-motor
abilities, and visual discrimination (Cian et al., 2001). Finally,
physical exercise of moderate intensity and duration appears to
ameliorate brain function. In fact, several studies found that
immediately after an exercise session of sub-maximal intensity (i.e.,
heart rate of about 110–130 beats per minute) and a duration of
20–40 min, there is an improvement in sensori-motor and cognitive performance (Clarkson-Smith & Hartley, 1989; Hogervorst,
Riedel, Jeukendrup, & Jolles, 1996). Although much of the evidence
suggests that the relationship between acute physical activity and
cognitive performance has an inverted U function, it is important to
interpret these finding with some caution given that the paradigms
of the studies cited above differ along several important domains,
such as the type of aerobic exercise, the cognitive functions
assessed, the age groups tested, as well as the physical and health
condition of the participants.
Much of the literature that reports beneficial effects of exercise
use reaction time tasks (Etnier et al., 1997; Tomporowski, 2003).
Reaction time is the response time from the appearance of a stimulus
to the motor response and it is believed to reflect stimulus identification, response selection, and response programming. It is also
considered as a general indicator of functional integrity of the
central nervous system (Wang, 2008). The typical explanation for
the facilitating effect of acute exercise on reaction time is an increase
in physiological arousal induced by the exercise (Brisswalter et al.,
2002; Gutin, 1973; Kamijo et al., 2004; McMorris & Graydon, 1997).
However, the even greater facilitating effects of exercise on choice
1469-0292/$ – see front matter Crown Copyright Ó 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2009.09.006
D. Ellemberg, M. St-Louis-Deschênes / Psychology of Sport and Exercise 11 (2010) 122–126
response time (also tapping cognitive processes including executive
functions) compared to simple reaction time (mainly tapping
a sensory motor response), suggests an increase in cognitive arousal
induced by exercise (Clarkson-Smith & Hartley, 1989).
Although accumulating research suggests that an acute bout of
physical exercise of moderate intensity and duration ameliorates
cognitive function in adults, much less is known about the effects of
a single session of physical exercise on cognitive functioning during
development. Only a handful of studies investigated the effects of
acute physical exercise on cognitive functioning during development (Caterino & Polak, 1999; Gabbard & Barton, 1979; Hillman
et al., 2009; McNaughton & Gabbard, 1993; Raviv & Low, 1990;
Zervas, Danis, & Klissouras, 1991). However, these studies report
disparate findings. For example, whilst one study found improved
cognitive functioning after 15 min of aerobic exercise and stretching (Caterino & Polak, 1999), another study only noted an
enhancement of cognitive function after 50 min of exercise (i.e.,
systematic relays during physical education class) (Gabbard &
Barton, 1979). In addition to the disparate findings it is difficult to
draw conclusions from the results of these studies either because
academic skills rather than specific cognitive functions were tested
(e.g., arithmetic computation) (Gabbard & Barton, 1979;
McNaughton & Gabbard, 1993), little to no details about to the
physical activity were provided (such as intensity and heart rate)
(Caterino & Polak, 1999; Gabbard & Barton, 1979; Raviv & Low,
1990), the control condition consisted in participating in a regular
academic activity (Caterino & Polak, 1999; Raviv & Low, 1990), or
the data were pooled over a wide range of ages (e.g., 11–14 years of
age) (Zervas et al., 1991).
The purpose of the present study was to determine whether
short periods of physical exercise ameliorate cognitive function in
children and whether this effect varies with age during development. To do so, we assessed sensori-motor and cognitive functions,
using a simple reaction time task and choice response time task,
respectively, in groups of 7- and 10-year-old boys (n ¼ 36 children
per age group). Half of the children in each age group completed an
aerobic activity of sub-maximal intensity (approximately 130 beats
per minute, or 60% of maximum heart rate) for a duration of 30 min,
whilst the other half watched a television show of the same
duration. Each child was tested twice, immediately before and after
the intervention.
Methods
Participants
Seventy-two boys, unaware of the experimental objectives,
participated in this study; half of the children were 7 years of age
and the other half were 10 years of age. Only boys were included
because of known gender differences on attentional mechanisms
(Adam, Robert, Rory, & Mark, 2001). For each of the two age groups,
18 children participated in the control condition and 18 participated in the experimental condition. No participant data were
discarded; all participants who accepted to participate in the study
completed the experimental procedure and the tests. By means of
developmental questionnaires completed by the parents we
selected children without academic difficulties, learning disabilities, attention deficit disorders, known medical conditions,
neurological and developmental disorders. All were born at term
and had normal birth-weights. A series of t-tests indicated that
there are no significant differences between the control and
experimental groups with regards to mean height, weight, and
number of hours per week spent participating in various types
physical activities (including organized and individual sports as
well as leisure activities) (see Table 1 for participant details).
123
Procedures
The children were randomly assigned to be part of the experimental and the control groups. All testing was done individually in
the laboratory setting. Specifically, both the control and the
experimental conditions took place in a same temperature regulated room, testing was always done in the afternoon, and the
children were permitted to drink water at all times, save during the
reaction time tasks. The children in the experimental group cycled
for about 30 min (plus a 5 min warm-up and a 5 min cool-down) on
an ergometer (Ergomeca model GP440) whilst watching a popular
children’s show that was age appropriate. The children included in
the control group sat still on the same ergometer for a period of
40 min whilst watching the same television show. Both groups
completed the same simple reaction and choice response time
tasks immediately before and after the intervention.
The height of the seat was adjusted for each child. Heart rate was
taken as a measure of the intensity of performance, and it was
monitored using telemetry (Polar protrainerÔ). For the experimental condition, the first 5 min consisted of a warm-up period
during which heart rate was raised to reach a target level of about
130 beats per minutes. This was done by adjusting resistance. The
children then peddled for 30 min at a rate that allowed them to
maintain their target heart rate of 130 beats per minute. The
experimenter recorded heart rate every 2 min, and when necessary,
instructed the child to increase or decrease peddling speed in order
to maintain target heart rate. This allowed us to reach mean values
of 134 and 132 beats per minute during the 30 min cycling period
for the 7- and 10-year-olds, respectively. This corresponds to 63% of
maximum heart rate for each group (Ricart-Arguirre, Léger, &
Massicotte, 1990). The 30 min cycling period was followed by
a cool-down that lasted until the children’s heart rate returned to
about 100 beats per minute (5 beats per minute).
Experimental measures
We created the following simple reaction and choice response
time tasks using MatlabÔ (The MathWorks Inc.). The simple reaction time task taps low level sensori-motor functions associated
with primary visual and motor cortices. This paradigm consisted of
geometric forms (square, triangle, and circle) presented in four
different colours (red, black, blue, and yellow) that appeared on
a computer monitor for a duration of 700 ms each. At a viewing
distance of 57 cm, each form sub-tended about 4 of visual angle.
Inter-stimulus interval varied randomly from 500 to 4000 ms. The
participant’s task was to press a key as soon as he detected the form
on the screen. Each of the 12 stimuli (3 forms 4 colours) was
presented 10 times for a total of 120 presentations. This task lasted
about 5 min. The dependent variable is the time required to
respond.
The choice response time task is a cognitive task involving
decision making processes that tap certain aspects of executive
functions in the frontal lobe such as flexibility and inhibition (Stuss
et al., 2005). The stimuli and presentation parameters are the same
as in the previous task. However, in this task the participant is
Table 1
Participant details.
7-year-olds
Control
Mean age (yrs)
Mean height (cm)
Mean weight (kg)
Mean physical activity per
week (h)
10-year-olds
Experimental Control
7.8
7.6
126 (7)
122 (7)
24.4 (5.2) 26.2 (5.6)
7.4 (3.7) 6.5 (3.1)
Experimental
10.5
10.6
141 (9)
137 (8)
34.3 (7.5) 32.7 (8.1)
8.9 (3.4) 8.1 (4.2)
124
D. Ellemberg, M. St-Louis-Deschênes / Psychology of Sport and Exercise 11 (2010) 122–126
asked to press a key each time a circle appeared on the screen and
a different key for any other form. Therefore, of the 12 stimuli, four
were targets and the rest were distracters. Each of the 12 stimuli
was presented 20 times for a total of 216 presentations. This task
lasted about 10 min. The two dependent variables that are analysed
are response time for correctly identified targets and response
accuracy (i.e., hits/total number of targets).
To familiarise the children with the tasks and to obtain a baseline measure of performance, each child completed the simple and
choice tasks before the experimental procedure (watching television versus watching television whilst cycling). The children were
then retested a second time after the intervention. In all groups and
for both the baseline and post-intervention measures, the simple
reaction time task always preceded the choice response time task.
These measures were obtained in a quiet testing room whilst the
children were comfortably seated in a regular chair. The children
responded by pressing a key with the index of their dominant hand.
Statistical analyses
The simple and choice reaction time data were analysed separately by means of a 3-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with
a between-subjects factors of age (7-year-olds versus 10-year-olds),
a between-subjects factor of condition (control condition versus
experimental condition), and a within subject factor of time of test
(baseline test versus post-intervention test). Significant interactions were further analysed with Tukey post-hoc tests.
Results
Fig. 1 presents the data for the simple reaction time task for the
experimental and the control groups. The ordinate shows the mean
response time in milliseconds. The ANOVA for the simple reaction
time task revealed a significant interaction of time of test condition F(1,68) ¼ 10.26, p < .002. Main effects of age F(1,68)
¼ 172.61, p < .001, condition F(1,68) ¼ 5.49 p < .02, and time of test
F(1,68) ¼ 41.75, p < .001 were also revealed. There were no
significant interactions of age condition, age time of test, nor of
age condition time of test (all ps > .10). The analysis of the
interaction between time of test (before versus after intervention)
and condition (television only versus exercise and television)
indicates that for both age groups, the children in the exercise
condition were significantly faster on the simple reaction time tasks
than the children in the control group. Together, these results
suggest that the activity benefited both age groups equally.
Discussion
We investigated the effects of an acute bout of physical activity
on cognitive functioning during development. The results indicate
that a single and short session of aerobic activity of moderate
intensity significantly improves response time for the simple and
choice tasks.
Although factors like physical fitness or academic achievement
were not measured, they are unlikely to explain the differences
reported between the children who were active and those who were
inactive. To participate in the study all children had to meet the same
inclusion criteria (viz., age appropriate level of academic achievement, no academic difficulties or learning disabilities, and no
neurological or other medical conditions). Further, the children were
randomly assigned to be part of either one of the two conditions. The
statistical analyses indicate that the baseline measure of the two
groups did not significantly differ. It is also unlikely that the control
condition (i.e., watching television) had a negative influence on the
results by inducing fatigue or decreasing vigilance and attention.
First, the children in the exercise group also watched television, as
did the children in the control group. Further, and most notably,
the children who only watched television also showed a slight
800
Baseline
*
600
Fig. 2 presents the data for the choice response time task for the
experimental and the control groups. The ANOVA for the choice
response time task revealed significant interactions of time of
test condition F(1,68) ¼ 45.63, p < .001, and of time of test age
F(1,68) ¼ 12.26, p < .001. Main effects of age F(1,68) ¼ 601.05,
p < .001, condition F(1,68) ¼ 38.80, p < .001, and time of test
F(1,68) ¼ 179.93, p < .001 were also revealed. There were no
significant interactions of age condition nor of age condition
time of test (all ps > .10). The analysis of the interaction between
time of test (before versus after intervention) and condition (television only versus exercise and television) indicates that for both
age groups, the children in the exercise condition were significantly
faster on the choice response time tasks than the children in the
control group. Again, these results suggest that the activity
benefited both age groups equally.
Fig. 3 presents the accuracy data for the choice response time
task for both the experimental and the control groups. The results
of the ANOVA revealed that there were no significant interactions
or main effects (all ps > .10). Therefore, the cardiovascular activity
did not improve performance accuracy for the younger or the older
children.
600
ms (± 1 SE)
ms (±1 SE)
*
400
300
200
Post-test
700
Post-test
500
Basline
*
*
500
400
300
200
100
100
0
0
Control
condition
7 year olds
Exercise
condition
Control
condition
10 year olds
Exercise
condition
Fig. 1. Mean time, in milliseconds, for the simple reaction time task. The dark bars
present the data for the baseline measure and the light bars present the data for the
post-test.*P < 0.05
Control
condition
7 year olds
Exercise
condition
Control
condition
10 year olds
Exercise
condition
Fig. 2. Mean time, in milliseconds, for the choice response time task. The dark bars
present the data for the baseline measure and the light bars present the data for the
post-test. *P < 0.05
D. Ellemberg, M. St-Louis-Deschênes / Psychology of Sport and Exercise 11 (2010) 122–126
Baseline
Post-test
100
90
Percent Correct
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Control
Exercise
Control
Exercise
condition
condition
condition
condition
7 year olds
10 year olds
Fig. 3. Mean percentage of correct responses (hit/miss þ hits). The dark bars present
the data for the baseline measure and the light bars present the data for the post-test.
improvement for both the reaction and response time tasks, supporting the presence of a practice effect.
The findings from the present study indicate that a single
session of exercise has a positive impact on the simple reaction
time task and on the choice response time task. Compared to the
control group, the children who participated in the aerobic exercise
responded on average 34 ms faster on the simple reaction time task
and 75 ms faster on the choice response time task after the intervention. Because the enhancement in response speed was 2.2 times
greater for the choice response time task compared to the simple
reaction time task, these results suggest that exercise also
ameliorates cognitive functioning and not only sensory and motor
responses. This is supported by recent studies conducted to isolate
the locus of exercise-induced facilitation on simple reaction time
that indicate a selective influence of acute aerobic exercise on
motor response (Audiffren, Tomporowski, & Zagrodnik, 2008;
Davranche, Burle, Audiffren, & Hasbroucq, 2005, 2006).
Despite the improvement in response time for the choice task,
accuracy remains unchanged and is similar for the control and the
experimental groups. This finding has two implications. First, the
fact that accuracy was not deteriorated in the experimental group
indicates that the improvement in response time measured for this
group was not at the detriment of accuracy. On the other hand, the
fact that only response time and not response accuracy improved
suggests that the latter is not a sensitive measure of cognitive
change related to physical exercise.
The present results do not support the hypothesis that the
beneficial effects of physical activity on cognitive performance vary
with age. These results are inconsistent with those of Caterino and
Polak (1999) that suggest a relationship between age and the
beneficial effects of acute physical activity on cognitive functioning.
Specifically, these authors found an amelioration in selective visual
attention in a group of fourth-grade children but not in second- and
third-grade children following 15 min of aerobic exercise. Several
important differences between studies, such as the parameters of
the physical exercise (intensity and duration), the cognitive functions tested, and subject characteristics could possibly account for
the disparate findings. Further, it is possible that the particular test
used in that study and the fact that it was administered collectively
was not particularly favourable for the two younger age groups
tested.
125
As noted in the Introduction, recent reviews of the literature
indicate that in adults the effect of physical exercise on cognitive
performance depends both on the intensity and the duration of the
exercise (Brisswalter et al., 2002; Kamijo et al., 2004; Tomporowski,
2003). Specifically, beneficial effects on cognitive functioning are
reported for an exercise session producing a sub-maximal aerobic
intensity (i.e., 20–80% of maximum heart rate) that is maintained
for 20–40 min. The results from the present study indicate that
children also experience cognitive improvement when intensity
and duration parameters fall within that range. However, we still do
not know if the upper and lower limits of the intensity and duration
parameters are the same for children as they are for adults. To our
knowledge, one study investigated the effect of exercise duration
whilst none measured the effect of intensity. Gabbard and Barton
(1979) found an improvement on a test of mathematical skills only
after 50 min of activity and not after 20, 30, or 40 min. Differences
in exercise intensity and cognitive tasks could possibly explain why
we found benefits after 30 min of activity whilst they did not.
The influence of physical exercise on the brain’s neurochemistry
and oxygen concentration has often been proposed to explain the
amelioration in sensory and cognitive performance associated with
acute bouts of physical activity. For example, augmentation in serotonin (associated with memory storage and retrieval), dopamine and
norepinephrine (associated with attention) was found after a short
period of exercise in rats and in humans (Bailey, Davis, & Ahlborn,
1993; Elam, Svensson, & Thoren, 1987; Peyrin, Pequignot, Lacour, &
Fourcade, 1987; Querido & Sheel, 2007; Romanowski & Grabiec, 1974;
Vaynman & Gomez-Pinilla, 2005). In fact, Peyrin et al. (1987) even
report a correlation between levels of catecholamine concentrations
induced by a short bout of exercise and mental performance. This is
also consistent with findings from studies of human electroencephalography that show an increase in beta power immediately after
a session of aerobic exercise (Oda, Matsumoto, Nakagawa, & Moriya,
1999; Youngstedt, Dishman, Cureton, & Peacock, 1993). Energy in the
beta frequency band reflects cortical activation related to information
processing and top-down attention processing.
In conclusion, the results from the present study suggest that
exercise has a beneficial impact on different aspects of brain
functioning during development. Indeed, both sensori-motor and
cognitive functions are ameliorated. However, the present work
does not allow us to determine the duration of the reported effects;
further research is needed to elucidate this question. Additional
work is also required to verify for possible gender differences given
that only boys were tested in the present study.
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