Document Type : Research Paper I Open Access I Released under CC BY-NC 4.0 license
Authors
1 . Department of sport biomechanics and motor Behavior, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran
2 Department of sport biomechanics and motor Behavior, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran
Abstract
Introduction: The mechanisms underlying the acute effect of aerobic exercise on cognition and its neuroelectrical correlates are not fully understood. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of acute aerobic physical activity on evoked potentials during a flanker attention task by analyzing event-related potentials (ERP).
Method: Fifteen adolescent boys with an average age of 14.07 ± 1.12 years participated in this study. Participants visited the laboratory on two separate days: once without running and once after 20 minutes of aerobic running. During both visits, they performed the flanker task while their ERP activity was recorded. Using the EEGLAB software, ERP components including P2, N2, and P3 were extracted from Fz and Pz electrode channels. To test the research hypotheses, non-parametric Wilcoxon tests were conducted using SPSS version 20.
Results: The results showed that a single session of aerobic exercise significantly increased the amplitude of the P3 and N2 components at the Fz channel and reduced their latency (p < 0.05). These changes were not observed at the Pz channel. The amplitude of the P2 component did not change significantly after aerobic running (p > 0.05), but it appeared significantly earlier at the Pz channel (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: These findings indicate that endogenous ERP components during the flanker attention task were significantly enhanced following acute aerobic exercise. The earlier onset of the P2 component may reflect improved perceptual processing in the parietal region. Therefore, engaging in aerobic physical activity is suggested as a strategy to enhance cognitive performance before tasks requiring high-level mental processing.
Keywords
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