Differential influences of exercise intensity on information processing in the central nervous system

The influence of exercise intensity on information processing in the central nervous system was investigated using P300 and no-go P300 event-related potentials. Twelve subjects (22-33 years) performed a go/no-go reaction time task in a control condition, and again after high-, medium-, and low-intensity pedaling exercises. Compared to the control condition, P300 amplitude decreased after high-intensity pedaling exercise and increased after medium-intensity pedaling exercise. There was no change after low-intensity pedaling exercise. These results suggested that the amount of attentional resources devoted to a given task decreased after high-intensity exercise and increased after medium-intensity exercise. The findings also suggest that changes in P300 amplitude are an inverted U-shaped behavior of differences in exercise intensity. In addition, no-go P300 amplitude showed the same changes as P300 amplitude at different exercise intensities. This indicates that differences in exercise intensity influenced not only the intensity of processing the requirement for a go response, but also processing of the need for a no-go response. It is concluded that differences in exercise intensity influenced information processing in the CNS.