1 School of Psychology, The University of Auckland.
2 Centre for Brain Research, The University of Auckland.
Perspect Psychol Sci. 2019 Sep;14(5):734-764. doi: 10.1177/1745691619850568. Epub 2019 Jul 31.
High-intensity exercise has recently emerged as a potent alternative to aerobic regimens, with ramifications for health and brain function. As part of this trend, single sessions of intense exercise have been proposed as powerful, noninvasive means for transiently enhancing cognition. However, findings in this field remain mixed, and a thorough synthesis of the evidence is lacking. Here, we synthesized the literature in a meta-analysis of the acute effect of high-intensity exercise on executive function. We included a total of 1,177 participants and 147 effect sizes across 28 studies and found a small facilitating effect ( = 0.24) of high-intensity exercise on executive function. However, this effect was significant only compared with rest ( = 0.34); it was not significant when high-intensity exercise was compared with low-to-moderate intensity exercise ( = 0.07). This suggests that intense and moderate exercise affect executive function in a comparable manner. We tested a number of moderators that together explained a significant proportion of the between-studies variance. Overall, our findings indicate that high-intensity cardiovascular exercise might be a viable alternative for eliciting acute cognitive gains. We discuss the potential of this line of research, identify a number of challenges and limitations it faces, and propose applications to individuals, society, and policies.
高强度运动最近成为一种替代有氧运动的有效方法，对健康和大脑功能都有影响。在这一趋势中，单次高强度运动被认为是一种强大的、非侵入性的方法，可以短暂地提高认知能力。然而，该领域的研究结果仍然存在差异，缺乏对证据的全面综合。在这里，我们通过荟萃分析综合了高强度运动对执行功能的急性影响的文献。我们共纳入了 28 项研究的 1177 名参与者和 147 个效应量，发现高强度运动对执行功能有较小的促进作用（ = 0.24）。然而，与休息相比，这种效果仅具有统计学意义（ = 0.34）；与低到中等强度的运动相比，这种效果没有统计学意义（ = 0.07）。这表明剧烈运动和中等运动以类似的方式影响执行功能。我们测试了一些调节变量，它们共同解释了研究间差异的很大一部分。总的来说，我们的研究结果表明，高强度心血管运动可能是诱发急性认知增益的一种可行选择。我们讨论了这一研究方向的潜力，确定了它所面临的一些挑战和局限性，并提出了在个人、社会和政策方面的应用。
