Neuroelectric adaptations to cognitive processing in virtual environments: an exercise-related approach

Abstract

Recently, virtual environments (VEs) are suggested to encourage users to exercise regularly. The benefits of chronic exercise on cognitive performance are well documented in non-VE neurophysiological and behavioural studies. Based on event-related potentials (ERP) such as the N200 and P300, cognitive processing may be interpreted on a neuronal level. However, exercise-related neuroelectric adaptation in VE remains widely unclear and thus characterizes the primary aim of the present study. Twenty-two healthy participants performed active (moderate cycling exercise) and passive (no exercise) sessions in three VEs (control, front, surround), each generating a different sense of presence. Within sessions, conditions were randomly assigned, each lasting 5 min and including a choice reaction-time task to assess cognitive performance. According to the international 10:20 system, EEG with real-time triggered stimulus onset was recorded, and peaks of N200 and P300 components (amplitude, latency) were exported for analysis. Heart rate was recorded, and sense of presence assessed prior to and following each session and condition. Results revealed an increase in ERP amplitudes (N200: p < 0.001; P300: p < 0.001) and latencies (N200: p < 0.001) that were most pronounced over fronto-central and occipital electrode sites relative to an increased sense of presence (p < 0.001); however, ERP were not modulated by exercise (each p > 0.05). Hypothesized to mirror cognitive processing, decreases of cognitive performance's accuracy and reaction time failed significance. With respect to previous research, the present neuroelectric adaptation gives reason to believe in compensative neuronal resources that balance demanding cognitive processing in VE to avoid behavioural inefficiency.

A systematic review of the application of interactive virtual reality to sport

“…The application of VR to sport has taken many forms, with various types of sport tasks, VR technologies, and types of athletes used in the research. Some researchers have examined questions relating to the use of VR technology itself, such as comparing outcomes when using VR and not using VR (e.g., Annesi and Mazas 1997;Legrand et al 2011;Mestre et al 2011;Plante et al 2003a), the effects of immersion in the virtual environment (Ijsselsteijn et al 2004;Vogt et al 2015), and differences between computer-controlled and real virtual competitors (Snyder et al 2012). In contrast, other researchers have used VR technology as part of a methodology to answer more general questions about factors related to sport performance.…”

“…The virtual environment is typically displayed on computer screens or projected against a wall. A larger display or the inclusion of more multimodal elements of the environment will increase the sense of immersion in the virtual world (Vogt et al 2015) and this can influence performance. Using a more immersive virtual environment during a cycling task (i.e., showing the track from the point of view of the rider versus from a birds eye view) has increased motivation and the speed of cycling in participants (Ijsselsteijn et al 2004).…”

“…Outcomes may also be divided into those related to task performance, physiological effects, and psychological processes. As shown in Table 3 (Nunes et al 2014;Snyder et al 2012), oxygen consumption and blood lactate level (Oliveira et al 2015), muscle fatigue (Chen et al 2015), and electroencephalogram amplitude and frequency (Vogt et al 2015). Psychological outcomes may relate to behavioural intentions (Lee et al 2012), cognitive functions (Anderson-Hanley et al 2012), motivation (Ijsselsteijn et al 2004;Nunes et al 2014), perceived pressure (Ijsselsteijn et al 2004), attentional focus (Baños et al 2016;Mestre et al 2011), and various positive and negative feeling states.…”

Physical Exhaustion Induced Variations in Event-Related Potentials and Cognitive Task Performance in Young Adults

“…Physical activity is related to changes in the brain through overall cardiovascular conditioning, and it enhances cerebral blood flow and oxygen supply to neurons [33]. Chronic exercise is found to be associated with an improvement in spatial memory and positive cholinergic effects [17]. In any case, it is apparent that even a single bout of moderate intensity exercise can bring about an improvement in cognition, and we believe that this is very important, as aerobic exercise could have a dual benefit, both for physical and mental health [18][19][20][21].…”

“…However, the existing literature has demonstrated that specific task and intensity of task induce fatigue, which in turn influences the performance [13][14][15]. Further neurophysiological studies support a possible role of fatigue in mediating many of the behavioral effects associated with cognitive performance [16,17].…”