Brief moderate-intensity cycling, momentary nervousness, and mathematics performance in young adults

Mathematics anxiety and test anxiety are associated with poorer mathematics performance. This study investigated whether a brief bout of moderate-intensity physical activity reduces momentary nervousness and improves subsequent mathematics performance. Sixty young adults (18-29 years) were randomly assigned to either a 10-min cycling condition or a passive sedentary control condition.

Momentary nervousness was assessed before the intervention, immediately afterward, and after completion of a 32-item mathematics test containing lower and higher-complexity arithmetic problems. Mathematics performance was measured using accuracy and reaction time.

Heart rate data confirmed successful implementation of the exercise manipulation. A mixed repeated-measures ANCOVA revealed no significant main effects of condition or time on momentary nervousness, although a Time × Condition interaction was observed. Follow-up analyses indicated that participants in the cycling condition reported higher nervousness at baseline than participants in the control condition, suggesting that regression to the mean may have contributed to the observed pattern. For mathematics performance, a significant Condition × Complexity interaction emerged for accuracy, F(1, 54) = 5.79, p = 0.020, ηp² = 0.10, indicating that the relation between condition and performance differed across problem complexity levels.

However, because no significant main effects of condition were found for either accuracy or reaction time, the accuracy interaction should be interpreted with caution with regard to the overall mathematics performance. Larger studies using validated state-anxiety measures, active control conditions, and more precise performance measures are needed to clarify potential boundary conditions of acute exercise effects.