The influence of volume‐matched acute aerobic exercise on inhibitory control in late‐middle‐aged and older adults: A neuroelectric study.

Acute aerobic exercise has been shown to benefit inhibitory control; however, less attention has been devoted to the effects of varying intensity and duration with a predetermined exercise volume. The current study assessed the influence of three distinct exercise conditions, each equated with a predesignated exercise volume but varied in terms of exercise durations and intensities, on inhibitory control utilizing both behavioral and neuroelectric measures obtained among late‐middle‐aged and older adults. Thirty‐four adults (61.76 ± 0.80 years) completed three exercise conditions [i.e., a 30‐min low‐intensity exercise (LIE), a 20‐min moderate‐intensity exercise (MIE), and a 16‐min high‐intensity exercise (HIE)] and a non‐exercise reading control condition (CON) on separate days. The exercise volumes of LIE and HIE were designed to match the exercise volume of MIE. Following cessation of each condition, the Stroop task was performed while event‐related potentials were recorded. Improved behavioral performance (i.e., shorter response time, higher accuracy, and smaller interference scores) was observed after LIE, MIE, and HIE than CON (ps <.005). Additionally, whereas a larger P3b amplitude was only observed following MIE compared to CON (p <.01), larger N2 and smaller N450 amplitudes were observed following all three exercise conditions compared to CON (ps <.005). These findings suggested that while MIE may provide additional benefits for attentional resource allocation, exercise conditions volume matched to MIE resulted in superior inhibitory control, paralleled by modulations of the neural underpinnings of conflict monitoring/detection. Although previous research has examined the relationship between exercise intensity and duration on inhibitory control, our study presents a novel approach by examining the impact of varying exercise intensity and duration. Although moderate‐intensity exercise affected the neuroelectric activation via the P3b potential, all three exercise protocols resulted in similar impacts on the N2 and N450 potentials. These findings establish a foundation for designing optimal exercise protocols to maximize the cognitive and brain benefits of inhibitory control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]