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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Cognit.
Sec. Cognition and Movement
Volume 3 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcogn.2024.1419734

Cycle-Based High-Intensity Sprint Exercise Elicits Acute Cognitive Dysfunction in Psychomotor and Memory Task Performance

Provisionally accepted
Trevor J. Dufner Trevor J. Dufner Jessica M. Moon Jessica M. Moon Adam J. Wells Adam J. Wells *
  • University of Central Florida, Orlando, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Purpose: To examine the impact of an acute high-intensity sprint exercise protocol (HISEP) for eliciting postexercise cognitive dysfunction in psychomotor, attentional, executive, and memory tasks. Methods: Twenty-four recreationally active adults (22±4yrs, 169.39±10.07cm, 75.80±14.73kg, 27.03±9.55BF%) performed a HISEP on a cycle ergometer. Average psychomotor reaction time (avgRT; Dynavision D2 Mode A & Mode B), mood (Profile of Mood States Questionnaire; POMS), and cognition (Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics; ANAM) were assessed pre-(PRE), post-(POST) and 60-minutes post (60POST) HISEP. One-way repeated measuresANOVAs were used to assess changes across time. Results: Fatigue (main effect: p<0.001, ηp 2 =0.309) was significantly higher at POST compared to PRE (p=0.007). Tension (main effect: p=0.021, ηp 2 =0.154) was significantly lower at 60POST compared to PRE (p=0.029). Mode A avgRT (main effect: p=0.022, ηp 2 =0.153) was significantly slower at POST compared to PRE (p=0.026). Throughput (TP) scores for ANAM code substitutiondelayed (CSD) task (main effect: p<0.001, ηp 2 =.284) and matching to sample (M2S) tasks (main effect: p=0.014,ηp 2 =0.169) were significantly lower at POST compared to PRE (p=0.001 and p=0.025, respectively), while mathematical processing (main effect: p=0.002, ηp 2 =0.232) was significantly higher at 60POST compared to both PRE (p=0.019) and POST (p=0.005). No other significant changes in cognitive task performance were observed (p's>0.05). Conclusions: The HISEP is a feasible and time-effective fatiguing exercise stimulus capable of eliciting acute cognitive dysfunction in psychomotor and memory task performance. NCT05100589

    Keywords: Cognition, cognitive dysfunction, High-intensity sprint exercise, ANAM, Dynavision, Memory, Attention

    Received: 18 Apr 2024; Accepted: 05 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Dufner, Moon and Wells. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Adam J. Wells, University of Central Florida, Orlando, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.