The Effect of Acute Concurrent Exercise on Executive Function: An Event-Related Potential Study

Executive function is a high-level cognition which plays an important role in our life. Meta-analysis study has demonstrated that acute exercise could improve executive function. However, it is still unclear whether executive function can be enhanced by the concurrent exercise that combines aerobic and resistance exercise. Moreover, previous studies indicated that acute exercise could increase the concentration of blood lactate which is positive correlated to executive function. It is still unclear whether the effect of acute concurrent exercise on executive function is mediated by blood lactate. Therefore, the purposes of present study are: (1) Measuring the effect of acute concurrent exercise and aerobic exercise on executive function. (2) Measuring whether the effect of acute concurrent exercise on executive function is mediated by blood lactate.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Executive Function
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: concurrent exercise; Behavioral: aerobic exercise

Detailed Description

Executive function is a high-level cognition which plays an important role in academic performance, career, and interpersonal relationship. Meta-analysis study has demonstrated that acute exercise could improve executive function, and also observed similar positive effect through both aerobic and resistance exercise. However, it is still unclear whether executive function can be enhanced by the concurrent exercise that combines aerobic and resistance exercise. Moreover, previous studies indicated that acute exercise could increase the concentration of blood lactate which is positive correlated to executive function. It is still unclear whether the effect of acute concurrent exercise on executive function is mediated by blood lactate. Therefore, the purposes of present study are: (1) Measuring the effect of acute concurrent exercise and aerobic exercise on executive function. (2) Measuring whether the effect of acute concurrent exercise on executive function is mediated by blood lactate.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 78
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Taiwan
  • Taipei, Taiwan, 106
    • Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, National Taiwan Normal University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 21 years to 28 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. no history of psychiatric or neurological disorders
2. no history of cardiovascular disease
3. normal or corrected to normal vision and normal color perception
4. right handed
5. 18.5 < BMI < 27

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Diagnosed with epilepsy

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: concurrent exercise group, CE; Participants conduct 5-min warm up, 12-min aerobic exercise, 13-min resistance exercise, and 5-min cool down.	Behavioral: concurrent exercise; Participants conduct warm up for 5-min, aerobic exercise for 12-min, resistance exercise for 13-min, and 5-min cool down.
Experimental: aerobic exercise group, AE; Participants conduct 5-min warm up, 25-min aerobic exercise, and 5-min cool down.	Behavioral: aerobic exercise; Participants conduct warm up for 5-min, resistance training for 25-min, and 5-min cool down.
No Intervention: reading control group, RC; Participants conduct reading for 35 minutes.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Task Switch Test Response Times	The shifting aspect of executive function was assessed using a computerised task-switching test. Each participant (N=78) completed 384 trials across six blocks (64 trials per block). The test consisted of two types of cognitive tasks: (1) number magnitude judgment (greater/less than 5) for digits 1-9 presented in solid-line squares, and (2) odd/even judgment for numbers presented in dotted-line squares. Performance was analysed by calculating each participant's mean response time (milliseconds) under four conditions: Homogeneous condition: Blocks where participants performed the same task repeatedly (Blocks 1 & 2, e.g., AAAA or BBBB) Heterogeneous condition: Blocks where tasks were mixed (Blocks 3-6, e.g., AABBAA) Non-switch trials: Consecutive trials of the same task type within heterogeneous blocks (e.g., AA or BB) Switch trials: Trials where the task changed from the previous trial within heterogeneous blocks (e.g., AB or BA) Lower response time represents better task perform	30 minutes

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
task switch test	The shifting aspect of executive function was assessed by means of a computer version of the task-switching test. In brief, each participant was presented with six blocks of 64 trials. For the first block, the participant was required to identify whether the stimulus (i.e., digits 1-9, without digit 5) within the solid-line square was greater/less than the digit 5. For the second block, the participant identified whether the stimulus within the dotted-line square was even/odd. The blocks 3-6 consisted of an equal number of stimuli from the first and second blocks forming an alternating-runs paradigm.	30 minutes

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Blood Lactate	The lactic acid system is one of the important systems of human energy metabolism. In addition to supplying energy to muscles, it can also be used as an energy source for brain energy metabolism. When people doing exercise, the concentration of blood lactate will be increased, and the lactate acid system will replace the glucose system as the main energy source for the brain. In the present study, blood lactate were collected from fingertip with a lancet and measured by lactate analyzer before, 17 minutes after, and after intervention.	before intervention, 17 minutes after intervention, and immediately after the 35 minute intervention
Stroop Task	The Stroop task consists of neutral, congruent, and incongruent trials. In neutral trials, colored rectangles were presented and participants were instructed to respond to whether the squares were red, blue, or green. For congruent and incongruent trials, participants were presented with the names of the three Chinese color words of 紅 (red), 藍 (blue), or 綠 (green) printed in either the same (congruent) or different (incongruent) ink color and instructed to respond to the color of the ink while inhibiting the meaning of the word.	30 minutes

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: National Taiwan Normal University
• Investigators: Study Director: Yu-Kai Chang, Ph.D., Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, National Taiwan Normal University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): February 15, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): August 15, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): February 15, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 29, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 29, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): April 6, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 25, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 18, 2025
• Last Verified: February 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: acute exercise; concurrent exercise; cognitive flexibility
• Other Study ID Numbers: PACNL_rueihongli_CE

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No