Cortical neural arousal is differentially affected by type of physical exercise performed

Critical flicker frequency (CFF) threshold is a visual discrimination task designed to assess cortical neural arousal, where higher values are associated with increased information processing and improved cognitive function. Previous studies using CFF assessments before and after exercise have only...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Experimental brain research 2018-06, Vol.236 (6), p.1643-1649
Main Authors:	Hanson, Nicholas J., Short, Lindsey E., Flood, Lauren T., Cherup, Nicholas P., Miller, Michael G.
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Adult Arousal Arousal (Psychophysiology) Arousal - physiology Biomedical and Life Sciences Biomedicine Cognitive ability Cortex Discrimination (Psychology) - physiology Evaluation Exercise Female Humans Information processing Male Neurology Neurosciences Oxygen Consumption - physiology Physical Exertion - physiology Psychological aspects Research Article Running - physiology Time Factors Visual discrimination Visual Perception - physiology Visual thresholds Young Adult
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Summary:	Critical flicker frequency (CFF) threshold is a visual discrimination task designed to assess cortical neural arousal, where higher values are associated with increased information processing and improved cognitive function. Previous studies using CFF assessments before and after exercise have only used one type of exercise (e.g., short, fatiguing, steady state, time to exhaustion, etc.). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the effect of exercise type and intensity on neural arousal. 22 recreational runners (10 men, 12 women; age 25 ± 6 years) volunteered to participate in the study. They completed a V O 2max test (short, fatiguing trial), and three 30-min treadmill runs (longer, steady-state trials) at rating of perceived exertion (RPE) levels of 13, 15, and 17. Before and after each exercise test, subjects were asked to complete the CFF test; M tot and M di were calculated, which are the average and difference of the ascending/descending frequency trials, respectively. There were no main effects found for either intensity ( p = 0.641) or time ( p = 0.283); there was, however, a significant interaction found (intensity*time; p = 0.001). In the V O 2max test and in the longer, steady-state runs at RPE13 and 15, there was no change in M tot . There was a significant increase in M tot after the run at RPE17 ( p = 0.019). For M di , the V O 2max test elicited a significant decrease ( p = 0.005), but there was no change after the steady-state runs. The results suggest that short, fatiguing and longer, steady-state exercise affect cortical neural arousal differently. Increases in arousal, and perhaps the related domain of information processing, are more likely to come from steady-state exercise at a vigorous intensity.
ISSN:	0014-4819 1432-1106