Effects of acute aerobic and resistance exercise on episodic memory function

Abstract

Accumulating research provides suggestive evidence that acute aerobic exercise may, potentially, enhance episodic memory function post-exercise. Limited research has evaluated whether acute resistance exercise may also enhance episodic memory post-exercise. Further, whether these two exercise modalities have a differential effect on post-exercise episodic memory is relatively unknown. To address these research questions, three experimental studies were conducted (N=104) among young adults (18-25 yrs). The experiments implemented acute bouts of aerobic or resistance exercise for 15 minutes. Episodic memory was comprehensively evaluated post-exercise with a list-learning paradigm and a computerized assessment of what-where-when aspects of episodic memory. Various manipulations (e.g., between vs. within-group) of the study design were implemented across the experiments. Across these three experiments, we failed to find consistent evidence of either type of acute exercise affecting episodic memory performance post-exercise.

Acute and Chronic Exercise Effects on Human Memory: What We Know and Where to Go from Here

“…Interestingly, research has also started to explore the effects of acute exercise on other distinct memory types, such as implicit memory [ 79 , 80 ], emotional memory [ 81 , 82 , 83 ], and false memory [ 67 , 84 , 85 ]. We also need additional exercise and memory research that comprehensively evaluates and integrates each of the constituents of episodic memory, namely the “what”, “where”, and “when” aspects of episodes [ 86 ].…”

Increased cortisol levels caused by acute resistance physical exercise impair memory and learning ability

“…It is, therefore, not surprising that there remains so much controversy in the literature relating acute exercise to cognitive performance, due mainly to the heterogeneity of the exercise protocols proposed in both the type of exercise and its intensity, as well as the diversity of tests that measure cognitive performance and all the variables related to it ( Loprinzi, Loenneke & Storm, 2021 ).…”

“…Nineteen healthy male military-trained powerlifting subjects (mean (SE); age: 32.5 (0.96) years; weight: 78.02 (1.63) kg; height: 175.35 (2.5) cm) were recruited to participate in this study. All subjects were physically active (at least 5 days/week of physical activity practice), could lift at least 1.5 times their body weight during the half-squat exercise and had no history of any neurological or psychiatric diseases, drug abuse or medication intake that might influence their results ( Loprinzi, Loenneke & Storm, 2021 ). In addition, the participants were experienced map readers (12.75 (6.6) years of practice) and were chosen because they were able to repeat the same cognitive task ( e.g .…”

“…Recent work ( Roig et al, 2016 ; Loprinzi et al, 2018 ; Haynes et al, 2019 ) demonstrates that acute aerobic exercise can enhance short- and long-term episodic memory function, as well as semantic memory ( Smith et al, 2013 ). In this sense, most of these studies have examined the effects of aerobic exercise, although it has been shown that acute resistance exercise may also enhance cognition, particularly inhibitory control ( Soga et al, 2018 ), but more research is needed on this exercise modality ( Loprinzi, Loenneke & Storm, 2021 ).…”

“…The limited literature that has examined the effects of a bout of acute resistance training has found contradictory results. Most of these studies claim that acute resistance exercise has no effect on memory ( Weinberg et al, 2014 ; Loprinzi, Loenneke & Storm, 2021 ) or that it may impair memory function ( Loprinzi et al, 2020 ).…”