Ciria Luis F, Perakakis Pandelis, Luque-Casado Antonio, Morato Cristina, Sanabria Daniel
Mind, Brain & Behavior Research Center, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
Departamento de Psicología Experimental, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
PeerJ. 2017 Sep 29;5:e3831. doi: 10.7717/peerj.3831. eCollection 2017.
A growing set of studies has shown a positive relationship between aerobic fitness and a broad array of cognitive functions. However, few studies have focused on sustained attention, which has been considered a fundamental cognitive process that underlies most everyday activities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of aerobic fitness as a key factor in sustained attention capacities in young adults.
Forty-four young adults (18-23 years) were divided into two groups as a function of the level of aerobic fitness (high-fit and low-fit). Participants completed the Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT) and an oddball task where they had to detect infrequent targets presented among frequent non-targets.
The analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed faster responses for the high-fit group than for the low-fit group in the PVT, replicating previous accounts. In the oddball task, the high-fit group maintained their accuracy (ACC) rate of target detection over time, while the low-fit group suffered a significant decline of response ACC throughout the task.
Importantly, the results show that the greater sustained attention capacity of high-fit young adults is not specific to a reaction time (RT) sustained attention task like the PVT, but it is also evident in an ACC oddball task. In sum, the present findings point to the important role of aerobic fitness on sustained attention capacities in young adults.
越来越多的研究表明有氧适能与一系列广泛的认知功能之间存在正相关关系。然而，很少有研究关注持续注意力，而持续注意力被认为是大多数日常活动所依赖的基本认知过程。本研究的目的是调查有氧适能作为年轻人持续注意力能力关键因素的作用。
44名年轻人（18 - 23岁）根据有氧适能水平分为两组（高适能组和低适能组）。参与者完成了心理运动警觉任务（PVT）和一个oddball任务，在oddball任务中他们必须检测频繁出现的非目标中偶尔出现的目标。
方差分析（ANOVA）显示，高适能组在PVT中的反应比低适能组更快，这与之前的研究结果一致。在oddball任务中，高适能组随着时间推移保持了目标检测的准确率（ACC），而低适能组在整个任务过程中反应ACC显著下降。
重要的是，结果表明高适能的年轻人更强的持续注意力能力并不局限于像PVT这样的反应时（RT）持续注意力任务，在ACC oddball任务中也很明显。总之，本研究结果表明有氧适能对年轻人的持续注意力能力具有重要作用。
