Brawn and Brainpower: Acute Resistance Exercise Improves Behavioral and Neuroelectric Measures of Executive Function

Acute resistance exercise (RE) is emerging as a promising strategy to improve executive function, yet the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, 121 participants (aged 18-50) were randomly assigned to either a moderate-intensity RE or rest intervention using a between-subjects design. We examined the effects of acute RE on behavioral and neuroelectric measures of executive function during a modified Flanker task and an N-back task, and collected lactate and blood pressure to explore possible physiological mechanisms. Results showed that following acute RE, blood lactate (d = 2.06) and systolic blood pressure (d = 0.99) significantly increased. Improvements in executive function were similarly observed following acute RE, including faster processing speed during inhibitory control (d = 0.37) and working memory (d = 0.46), and decreased P3 latency during inhibitory control (d = 0.41). Moreover, exploratory mediation analyses revealed that systolic blood pressure mediated the effect of RE on response time during both the Flanker (-10.73 ± 4.99, 95% CI = -21.50 to -1.52) and N-back (-28.20 ± 12.38, 95% CI = -53.22 to -5.37) tasks. Overall, these findings provide evidence that acute RE enhances neuroelectric and behavioral markers of inhibitory control and working memory performance and highlight the potential for systolic pressure as a mechanism through which acute RE influences cognition.