Laboratory of Exercise Biochemistry and Neuroendocrinology, Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8574, Japan; Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan.
Laboratory of Exercise Biochemistry and Neuroendocrinology, Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8574, Japan; Sport Neuroscience Division, Advanced Research Initiative for Human High Performance (ARIHHP), Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8574, Japan.
Neuroimage. 2023 Aug 15;277:120244. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120244. Epub 2023 Jun 21.
Physical exercise, even stress-free very-light-intensity exercise such as yoga and very slow running, can have beneficial effects on executive function, possibly by potentiating prefrontal cortical activity. However, the exact mechanisms underlying this potentiation have not been identified. Evidence from studies using pupillometry demonstrates that pupil changes track the real-time dynamics of activity linked to arousal and attention, including neural circuits from the locus coeruleus to the cortex. This makes it possible to examine whether pupil-linked brain dynamics induced during very-light-intensity exercise mediate benefits to prefrontal executive function in healthy young adults. In this experiment, pupil diameter was measured during 10 min of very-light-intensity exercise (30% V˙o). A Stroop task was used to assess executive function before and after exercise. Prefrontal cortical activation during the task was assessed using multichannel functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). We observed that very-light-intensity exercise significantly elicited pupil dilation, reduction of Stroop interference, and task-related left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activation compared with the resting-control condition. The magnitude of change in pupil dilation predicted the magnitude of improvement in Stroop performance. In addition, causal mediation analysis showed that pupil dilation during very-light-intensity exercise robustly determined subsequent enhancement of Stroop performance. This finding supports our hypothesis that the pupil-linked mechanisms, which may be tied to locus coeruleus activation, are a potential mechanism by which very light exercise enhances prefrontal cortex activation and executive function. It also suggests that pupillometry may be a useful tool to interpret the beneficial impact of exercise on boosting cognition.
体育锻炼，即使是无压力的非常低强度运动，如瑜伽和非常慢的跑步，也可能对执行功能产生有益影响，可能通过增强前额皮质活动来实现。然而，这种增强的确切机制尚未确定。使用瞳孔测量法的研究证据表明，瞳孔变化可以跟踪与觉醒和注意力相关的实时活动动态，包括蓝斑核到皮质的神经回路。这使得我们可以检查在非常低强度运动期间诱导的与瞳孔相关的大脑动力学是否介导了健康年轻成年人前额叶执行功能的益处。在这个实验中，在 10 分钟的非常低强度运动（30% V˙o）期间测量了瞳孔直径。使用 Stroop 任务来评估运动前后的执行功能。使用多通道近红外光谱功能成像 (fNIRS) 评估任务期间前额皮质的激活情况。我们观察到，与休息对照条件相比，非常低强度运动显著引起瞳孔扩张、减少 Stroop 干扰和与任务相关的左背外侧前额叶皮层激活。瞳孔扩张变化的幅度预测了 Stroop 表现改善的幅度。此外，因果中介分析表明，非常低强度运动期间的瞳孔扩张有力地决定了随后 Stroop 表现的增强。这一发现支持了我们的假设，即与蓝斑核激活相关的瞳孔相关机制可能是非常低强度运动增强前额叶皮层激活和执行功能的潜在机制。这也表明，瞳孔测量可能是一种有用的工具，可以解释运动对提高认知能力的有益影响。
