The Effects of Acute Aerobic Activity at Rating Five and Seven of Perceived Exertion on the Performance of a Word-Recollection, Short-Term Memory Task

Abstract

Aerobic exercise has many benefits in improving human health. By increasing oxygenated blood flow and glutamate release into the brain, aerobic exercise has been related to improved long-term memory. Additionally, aerobic exercise has been shown to induce adult neurogenesis, which is correlated to improved long-term memory, in the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus by stimulating the production of various neural growth factors such as brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1). Although many studies have shown a correlation between aerobic exercise and improved consolidation of short-term memory to long-term memory, many studies on the effects of brief aerobic exercise on short-term memory have been inconclusive, perhaps due to fatigue-related memory or cognitive impairment. In this study, we sought to examine the effects of acute aerobic activity on the performance of a word-recollection, short-term memory task. Word recollection tasks were conducted following a control, no-exercise condition and after two levels of perceived physical exertion, characterized using the new Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion Scale (RPE). Heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration rates were measured from each participant following an exercise condition to assess the intensity of physical exertion. Despite a statistically significant increase in heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and respiration rate between control and exercise conditions, no statistical significance was found between the number of words recalled in the short-term memory task to exercise intensity; short term memory task performance of the control, no exercise condition was compared to a moderate exercise level (RPE rating 5) and to an intense exercise level (RPE rating 7). Overall, we believe that our study could serve as a basis for conducting future studies that elucidate the relationship between short-term memory and acute aerobic exercise.