Dose-Response Effects of Acute Aerobic Exercise Intensity on Inhibitory Control in Children With Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Abstract

The present study aimed to examine whether the effect of acute aerobic exercise on inhibitory control of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is moderated by exercise intensity. Using a within-subjects design, 25 children with ADHD completed a flanker task with concurrent collection of electroencephalography (EEG) data after three different intensities of treadmill running. The results showed that low- and moderate-intensity exercises resulted in shorter reaction times (RTs) relative to vigorous-intensity exercise during the incompatible condition of the flanker task regardless of task congruency. A P3 congruency effect was observed following low- and vigorous-intensity exercises but not after moderate-intensity exercise. The mean alpha power, a measure of cortical arousal, increased following low- and moderate-intensity exercises but decreased following vigorous-intensity exercise. In addition, the change in arousal level after moderate-intensity exercise was negatively correlated with RT during incompatible flanker tasks. The current findings suggest that children with ADHD have better inhibitory control following both low- and moderate-intensity exercises relative to vigorous aerobic exercise, which could be characterized by an optimal state of cortical arousal.

Neural Effects of Physical Activity and Movement Interventions in Individuals With Developmental Disabilities–A Systematic Review

“…For the studies that assessed the acute effects of interventions, 7 reported the target heart rate of their movement intervention, ranging from 50 to 80% of the suggested maximum heart rate (moderate to vigorous intensity activity; Tables 5 , 6 ). One study included three experimental groups with the target exercise heart rate of 30% (Light), 50–60% (Moderate), and 70–80% (Vigorous) of the suggested maximum heart rate, respectively ( 104 ). Two other studies reported average heart rate during/right after movement intervention (Vogt et al ( 115 ): 154.50 bpm ± 10.06; Vogt et al ( 110 ): 143.09 bpm ± 14.40; Table 6 ).…”

“…Using EEG, several studies found changes in resting-state slow- and fast-wave activity in children with ADHD, suggesting normalized cortical arousal level after movement interventions ( 91 , 93 , 94 , 97 , 104 ). Specifically, Janssen et al (2016) found decreased theta activity over the midline regions (Fz, Cz, and Pz) after 28 physical activity training sessions ( 97 ), and Huang et al found decreased EEG theta/alpha ratios over frontal (F2, F4, Fz) and central (C3, C4, Cz) regions following an 8-week water aerobics intervention compared to a control intervention [Hedges' g = −0.63 and −0.72 (within); −0.60 and −0.61 (between)] ( 93 ).…”

“…Specifically, Janssen et al (2016) found decreased theta activity over the midline regions (Fz, Cz, and Pz) after 28 physical activity training sessions ( 97 ), and Huang et al found decreased EEG theta/alpha ratios over frontal (F2, F4, Fz) and central (C3, C4, Cz) regions following an 8-week water aerobics intervention compared to a control intervention [Hedges' g = −0.63 and −0.72 (within); −0.60 and −0.61 (between)] ( 93 ). Similar results were found in acute effect studies, with Huang et al reporting reduced theta/beta ratios in the midline regions [Hedges' g = −0.04 to −0.20 (within); −0.21 to −0.35 (between)] ( 94 ), Tsai et al reporting increased alpha power after a single bout of treadmill running [E1: Hedges' g = 0.29; E2: Hedges' g = 0.20; E3: Hedges' g = −0.11 (within)] ( 104 ), and Choi et al ( 113 ) reporting increased alpha band and reduced theta band/theta-beta ratio after a single bout of dynamic stretching exercise, indicating improved normalized cortical arousal ( 113 ). Although the associations between neural and behavioral/symptoms remain to be explored, our review of the literature suggests that both chronic and acute movement interventions seem to lead to normalized cortico-subcortical crosstalk in children with ADHD ( Supplementary Tables 4 – 6 ).…”

“…The ADHD-related differences in resting-state activity might reflect atypical corticalsubcortical crosstalk/arousal and a lack of inhibition of irrelevant sensory inputs (116,119). Studies included in the current systematic review found normalized EEG resting-state activity [i.e., increases in alpha power (91,104), as well as decreases in theta power (91,97) and theta/alpha (93) and theta/beta ratios (91,94)] after aerobic physical activity, suggesting normalized cortico-subcortical crosstalk/arousal in children with ADHD.…”

“…Additionally, pre-post test design studies had small samples and a lack of assessment across multiple timepoints before and after interventions (ROB item #s 5 and 11). Although many cross-over design studies used a counterbalancing approach to account for intervention order effects, they did not specify whether their allocation to a certain intervention order was randomized or not, and hence, they did not meet PEDro scale criterion #2 (95,(100)(101)(102)104). In terms of the level of evidence, 12 studies were Level I, 15 were Level II, and 5 were classified as Level III.…”