The effects of an acute bout of cycling exercise on brain function in young adults and children

Abstract

An acute bout of cycling may enhance brain function. A meta-analysis (Study 1) was conducted to elucidate the effect of acute ergometer cycling (EC) on executive functions (EFs) in young adults whilst addressing potential moderators. The findings revealed that 21-30 minutes of EC significantly improved EF task response time, predominantly during inhibitory control tasks administered immediately post-exercise. Study 2 compared the influence of EC, visual foraging (VF) and both combined (EC+VF) on young adults’ EFs, affective state and prefrontal cortex (PFC) oxygenation. Participants with poorer baseline inhibitory control scores showed more pronounced improvements in the EC condition than those with higher levels. PFC activation and subjective arousal were higher in the cycling conditions than in VF. Yet, PFC activation, cadence levels, and energetic investment were greater in the EC condition than in the EC+VF condition, potentially due to distraction by the VF task. Study 3 compared the effects of EC and EC+VF on children’s EFs, reasoning skills and affective state. Findings suggested that EC may be effective for improving working memory and academic reasoning – although practice effects cannot be ruled out. And as per Study 2, findings suggested that individual differences in participants pre-existing EF abilities may mediate exercise-induced changes in EF. The final study explored the effects of stationary cycling whilst viewing real-world 360-degree immersive on-road cyclist point-of-view footage on young adults' and children’s EF and reasoning task performance and affective responses; one group heard reward sounds for adaptive foraging behaviour, a second one did not. Findings showed that the cycling intervention heightened participants’ arousal and improved their nonverbal reasoning efficiency, irrespective of age or auditory rewards. This thesis partially lends support for using cycling-based interventions to improve brain function. Further research should consider individual differences in abilities, and using alternative tasks to assess cognitive function, for example, academic reasoning tasks.