BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Long-term potentiation (LTP), the functional connectivity among neurons, is considered a mechanism of episodic memory. Both acute exercise and learning are thought to influence memory via an LTP-related mechanism. Limited research has evaluated the individual and combined effects of acute exercise and learning strategy implementation (e.g., 3-R technique, cue-integration) on memory, which was the purpose of this study.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

For Experiment 1, participants ( = 80; M = 20.9 years) were randomized into one of four experimental groups, including Exercise + Learning (E + L), Learning Only (L), Exercise Only (E), and Control Group (C; no exercise and no learning strategy implementation). The exercise stimulus involved an acute 15-min bout of lower-intensity (60% of heart rate max) walking exercise and the learning strategy involved the implementation of the 3-R technique. Experiment 2 ( = 77; M = 21.1 years) replicated Experiment 1 but addressed limitations (e.g., exposure level of the memory task) from Experiment 1 and employed a higher-intensity bout of exercise (77% of heart rate max). Experiment 3 ( = 80; M = 21.0 years) evaluated these same four experimental conditions but employed a cue-integration learning strategy and a moderate-intensity bout of acute exercise (64% of heart rate max).

RESULTS

These three experiments demonstrate that both learning techniques were effective in enhancing memory and we also provided evidence of a main effect for acute exercise (Experiment 3). However, we did not observe consistent evidence of a learning by exercise interaction effect.

CONCLUSIONS

We demonstrate that both acute exercise and different learning techniques are effective in enhancing long-term memory function.