Effects of acute exercise with different modalities on working memory in men with high and low aerobic fitness

This study aimed to determine the effects of high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) and moderate-intensity continuous exercise (MICE) on working memory in individuals with high and low aerobic fitness.

The protocol adopted a between-subjects crossover design.

Forty healthy male college students (mean age = 19.59 ± 1.00 years) were assigned to high fitness (n = 20) or low fitness (n = 20) groups based on their estimated maximum oxygen consumption (VO_2max) in the 20 m shuttle run test. All participants were instructed to engage in three acute exercise interventions (10 min HIIE, 20 min HIIE, 20 min MICE) and a reading control intervention on separate days in a randomized order. A spatial 2-back task was performed before and after each intervention to assess working memory.

Analyses of the 2-back task performance revealed that the working memory of high and low fitness participants benefited from different modalities of acute exercise. Specifically, reaction time in the 2-back task was significantly shorter after 20 min HIIE compared to pre-exercise in high fitness participants, whereas low fitness participants had significantly faster reaction time in the 2-back task after 20 min MICE and 10 min HIIE relative to pre-exercise.

The effects of acute aerobic exercise on working memory are modulated by a combination of exercise modality and aerobic fitness. This finding has important implications for providing experimental evidence that participants choose appropriate exercise to undertake based on their level of aerobic fitness to improve cognitive performance.