Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Habitual exercise is associated with cognitive control and cognitive reappraisal success

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Experimental Brain Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Habitual exercise is associated with enhanced domain-general cognitive control, such as inhibitory control, selective attention, and working memory, all of which rely on the frontal cortex. However, whether regular exercise is associated with more specific aspects of cognitive control, such as the cognitive control of emotion, remains relatively unexplored. The present study employed a correlational design to determine whether level of habitual exercise was related to performance on the Stroop test measuring selective attention and response inhibition, the cognitive reappraisal task measuring cognitive reappraisal success, and associated changes in prefrontal cortex (PFC) oxygenation using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. 74 individuals (24 men, 50 women, age 18–32 years) participated. Higher habitual physical activity was associated with lower Stroop interference (indicating greater inhibitory control) and enhanced cognitive reappraisal success. Higher habitual exercise was also associated with lower oxygenated hemoglobin (O2Hb) in the PFC in response to emotional information. However, NIRS data indicated that exercise was not associated with cognitive control-associated O2Hb in the PFC. Behaviorally, the findings support and extend the previous findings that habitual exercise relates to more successful cognitive control of neutral information and cognitive reappraisal of emotional information. Future research should explore whether habitual exercise exerts causal benefits to cognitive control and PFC oxygenation, as well as isolate specific cognitive control processes sensitive to change through habitual exercise.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Photo of mourning family from Evstafiev (1992) and Urry (2010). Used with permission of the photographer

Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ainsworth BE, Haskell WL, Whitt MC, Irwin ML, Swartz AM, Strath SJ, O’Brien WL, Bassett DR Jr, Schmitz KH, Emplaincourt PO, Jacobs DR Jr, Leon AS (2000) Compendium of physical activities: an update of activity codes and MET intensities. Med Sci Sports Exerc 32:S498–S504

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Alvarez JA, Emory E (2006) Executive function and the frontal lobes: a meta-analytic review. Neuropsychol Rev 16:17–42. doi:10.1007/s11065-006-9002-x

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bernstein EE, McNally RJ (2016) Acute aerobic exercise helps overcome emotion regulation deficits. Cogn Emot. doi:10.1080/02699931.2016.1168284

    Google Scholar 

  • Besson H, Brage S, Jakes RW, Ekelund U, Wareham NJ (2010) Estimating physical activity energy expenditure, sedentary time, and physical activity intensity by self-report in adults. Am J Clin Nutr 91:106–114. doi:10.3945/ajcn.2009.28432

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Byun K, Hyodo K, Suwabe K, Ochi G, Sakairi Y, Kato M, Dan I, Soya H (2014) Positive effect of acute mild exercise on executive function via arousal-related prefrontal activations: an fNIRS study. Neuroimage 98:336–345. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.04.067

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Botvinick MM, Braver TS, Barch DM, Carter CS, Cohen JD (2001) Conflict monitoring and cognitive control. Psychol Rev 108:624–652

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cameron TA, Lucas SJ, Machado L (2015) Near-infrared spectroscopy reveals link between chronic physical activity and anterior frontal oxygenated hemoglobin in healthy young women. Psychophysiology 52:609–617. doi:10.1111/psyp.12394

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chiew KS, Braver TS (2011) Positive affect versus reward: emotional and motivational influences on cognitive control. Front Psychol 2:279. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00279

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen J (1992) A power primer. Psychol Bull 112:155–159

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen S, Kamarck T, Mermelstein R (1983) A global measure of perceived stress. J Health Soc Behav 24:385–396

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cooney GM, Dwan K, Greig CA, Lawlor DA, Rimer J, Waugh FR, McMurdo M, Mead GE (2013) Exercise for depression. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 9:CD004366. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD004366.pub6

    Google Scholar 

  • Cox EP, O’Dwyer N, Cook R, Vetter M, Cheng HL, Rooney K, O’Connor H (2016) Relationship between physical activity and cognitive function in apparently healthy young to middle-aged adults: a systematic review. J Sci Med Sport 19:616–628. doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2015.09.003

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cui X, Bray S, Bryant DM, Glover GH, Reiss AL (2011) A quantitative comparison of NIRS and fMRI across multiple cognitive tasks. Neuroimage 54:2808–2821. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.10.069

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dupuy O, Gauthier CJ, Fraser SA, Desjardins-Crepeau L, Desjardins M, Mekary S, Lesage F, Hoge RD, Pouliot P, Bherer L (2015) Higher levels of cardiovascular fitness are associated with better executive function and prefrontal oxygenation in younger and older women. Front Hum Neurosci 9:66. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2015.00066

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Evstafiev M (1992) A family mourns during a funeral at the Lion's cemetery in Sarajevo, 1992 [Photo]. Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Evstafiev-bosnia-sarajevo-funeral-reaction.jpg

  • Fedorenko E, Duncan J, Kanwisher N (2012) Language-selective and domain-general regions lie side by side within Broca’s area. Curr Biol 22:2059–2062. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.09.011

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Glotzbach E, Muhlberger A, Gschwendtner K, Fallgatter AJ, Pauli P, Herrmann MJ (2011) Prefrontal brain activation during emotional processing: a functional near infrared spectroscopy study (fNIRS). Open Neuroimag J 5:33–39. doi:10.2174/1874440001105010033

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Goldin P, Ziv M, Jazaieri H, Hahn K, Gross JJ (2013) MBSR vs aerobic exercise in social anxiety: fMRI of emotion regulation of negative self-beliefs. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 8:65–72. doi:10.1093/scan/nss054

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Golubic R, May AM, Benjaminsen Borch K, Overvad K, Charles MA, Diaz MJ, Amiano P, Palli D, Valanou E, Vigl M, Franks PW, Wareham N, Ekelund U, Brage S (2014) Validity of electronically administered Recent Physical Activity Questionnaire (RPAQ) in ten European countries. PLoS One 9:e92829. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0092829

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Goodwin H, Haycraft E, Meyer C (2012) The relationship between compulsive exercise and emotion regulation in adolescents. Br J Health Psychol 17:699–710. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8287.2012.02066.x

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gross JJ (1999) Emotion regulation: past, present, future. Cognit Emot 13:551–773

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gross JJ (2002) Emotion regulation: affective, cognitive, and social consequences. Psychophysiology 39:281–291. doi:10.1017/S0048577201393198

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gross JJ, John OP (2003) Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: implications for affect, relationships, and well-being. J Pers Soc Psychol 85:348–362

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Guiney H, Machado L (2013) Benefits of regular aerobic exercise for executive functioning in healthy populations. Psychon Bull Rev 20:73–86. doi:10.3758/s13423-012-0345-4

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Haskell WL, Lee IM, Pate RR, Powell KE, Blair SN, Franklin BA, Macera CA, Heath GW, Thompson PD, Bauman A (2007) Physical activity and public health: updated recommendation for adults from the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association. Med Sci Sports Exerc 39:1423–1434. doi:10.1249/mss.0b013e3180616b27

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Helmerhorst HJ, Brage S, Warren J, Besson H, Ekelund U (2012) A systematic review of reliability and objective criterion-related validity of physical activity questionnaires. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 9:103. doi:10.1186/1479-5868-9-103

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Herff C, Heger D, Fortmann O, Hennrich J, Putze F, Schultz T (2014) Mental workload during n-back task-quantified in the prefrontal cortex using fNIRS. Front Hum Neurosci 7:935. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00935

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Herrmann MJ, Ehlis AC, Fallgatter AJ (2003) Prefrontal activation through task requirements of emotional induction measured with NIRS. Biol Psychol 64:255–263

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hillman CH, Kramer AF, Belopolsky AV, Smith DP (2006) A cross-sectional examination of age and physical activity on performance and event-related brain potentials in a task switching paradigm. Int J Psychophysiol 59:30–39

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hyodo K, Dan I, Suwabe K, Kyutoku Y, Yamada Y, Akahori M, Byun K, Kato M, Soya H (2012) Acute moderate exercise enhances compensatory brain activation in older adults. Neurobiol Aging 33:2621–2632. doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2011.12.022

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson DC, Malmstadt JR, Larson CL, Davidson RJ (2000) Suppression and enhancement of emotional responses to unpleasant pictures. Psychophysiology 37:515–522

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jasper HH (1958) The ten–twenty electrode system of the International Federation. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol 10:370–375

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Josefsson T, Lindwall M, Archer T (2014) Physical exercise intervention in depressive disorders: meta-analysis and systematic review. Scand J Med Sci Sports 24:259–272. doi:10.1111/sms.12050

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kirilina E, Yu N, Jelzow A, Wabnitz H, Jacobs AM, Tachtsidis I (2013) Identifying and quantifying main components of physiological noise in functional near infrared spectroscopy on the prefrontal cortex. Front Hum Neurosci 7:864. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00864

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • LaCaille RA, Masters KS, Heath EM (2004) Effects of cognitive strategy and exercise setting on running performance, perceived exertion, affect, and satisfaction. Psychol Sport Exerc 5:461–476. doi:10.1016/S1469-0292(03)00039-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lambourne K (2006) The relationship between working memory capacity and physical activity rates in young adults. J Sports Sci Med 5:149–153

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Lang PJ, Bradley MM, Cuthbert BN (2005) International affective picture system (IAPS): affective ratings of pictures and instruction manual. Technical report A-6. University of Florida, Gainesville, FL

  • Leon-Carrion J, Damas J, Izzetoglu K, Pourrezai K, Martin-Rodriguez JF, Barroso Y, Martin JM, Dominguez-Morales MR (2006) Differential time course and intensity of PFC activation for men and women in response to emotional stimuli: a functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) study. Neurosci Lett 403:90–95

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miller EK, Cohen JD (2001) An integrative theory of prefrontal cortex function. Annu Rev Neurosci 24:167–202. doi:10.1146/annurev.neuro.24.1.167

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miyake A, Friedman NP, Emerson MJ, Witzki AH, Howerter A, Wager TD (2000) The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex “Frontal Lobe” tasks: a latent variable analysis. Cogn Psychol 41:49–100. doi:10.1006/cogp.1999.0734

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mueller SC (2011) The influence of emotion on cognitive control: relevance for development and adolescent psychopathology. Front Psychol 2:327. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00327

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Muraven M, Baumeister RF (2000) Self-regulation and depletion of limited resources: does self-control resemble a muscle? Psychol Bull 126:247–259

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Novick JM, Trueswell JC, Thompson-Schill SL (2005) Cognitive control and parsing: reexamining the role of Broca’s area in sentence comprehension. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci 5:263–281

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ochsner KN, Gross JJ (2005) The cognitive control of emotion. Trends Cogn Sci 9:242–249

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ochsner KN, Hughes B, Robertson ER, Cooper JC, Gabrieli JD (2009) Neural systems supporting the control of affective and cognitive conflicts. J Cogn Neurosci 21:1842–1855. doi:10.1162/jocn.2009.21129

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Opitz PC, Cavanagh SR, Urry HL (2015) Uninstructed emotion regulation choice in four studies of instructed cognitive reappraisal. Personality and Individual Differences 86:455–464. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2015.06.048

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Padilla C, Perez L, Andres P, Parmentier FBR (2013) Exercise improves cognitive control: evidence from the stop signal task. Appl Cognit Psychol 27:505–511

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Padilla C, Perez L, Andres P (2014) Chronic exercise keeps working memory and inhibitory capacities fit. Front Behav Neurosci 8:49. doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00049

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Pavlov SV, Reva NV, Loktev KV, Tumyalis AV, Korenyok VV, Aftanas LI (2014) The temporal dynamics of cognitive reappraisal: cardiovascular consequences of downregulation of negative emotion and upregulation of positive emotion. Psychophysiology 51:178–186. doi:10.1111/psyp.12159

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Randolph JJ (2005) Free-marginal multirater kappa: an alternative to Fleiss' fixed-marginal multirater kappa. Paper presented at the Joensuu University Learning and Instruction Symposium 2005, Joensuu, Finland, October 14–15th, 2005. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED490661)

  • Randolph JJ (2008) Online Kappa Calculator (computer software)

  • Rimmele U, Zellweger BC, Marti B, Seiler R, Mohiyeddini C, Ehlert U, Heinrichs M (2007) Trained men show lower cortisol, heart rate and psychological responses to psychosocial stress compared with untrained men. Psychoneuroendocrinology 32:627–635

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rimmele U, Seiler R, Marti B, Wirtz PH, Ehlert U, Heinrichs M (2009) The level of physical activity affects adrenal and cardiovascular reactivity to psychosocial stress. Psychoneuroendocrinology 34:190–198. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2008.08.023

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Saintsing DE, Richman CL, Bergey DB (1988) Effects of three cognitive strategies on long-distance running. Bull Psychon Soc 26:34–36

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salmon P (2001) Effects of physical exercise on anxiety, depression, and sensitivity to stress: a unifying theory. Clin Psychol Rev 21:33–61

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sassaroli A, Fantini S (2004) Comment on the modified Beer-Lambert law for scattering media. Phys Med Biol 49:N255–N257

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Scott SP, De Souza MJ, Koehler K, Petkus DL, Murray-Kolb LE (2016) Cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with better executive function in young women. Med Sci Sports Exerc. doi:10.1249/MSS.0000000000000974

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Song S, Zilverstand A, Song H, d’Oleire Uquillas F, Wang Y, Xie C, Cheng L, Zou Z (2017) The influence of emotional interference on cognitive control: a meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies using the emotional Stroop task. Sci Rep. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-02266-2

    Google Scholar 

  • Stanton R, Reaburn P (2014) Exercise and the treatment of depression: a review of the exercise program variables. J Sci Med Sport 17:177–182. doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2013.03.010

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Strohle A (2009) Physical activity, exercise, depression and anxiety disorders. J Neural Transm (Vienna) 116:777–784. doi:10.1007/s00702-008-0092-x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stroop JR (1935) Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. J Exp Psychol 18:643–662

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stroth S, Kubesch S, Dieterle K, Ruchsow M, Heim R, Kiefer M (2009) Physical fitness, but not acute exercise modulates event-related potential indices for executive control in healthy adolescents. Brain Res 1269:114–124. doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2009.02.073

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thayer RE, Newman JR, McClain TM (1994) Self-regulation of mood: strategies for changing a bad mood, raising energy, and reducing tension. J Pers Soc Psychol 67:910–925

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tsujii T, Komatsu K, Sakatani K (2013) Acute effects of physical exercise on prefrontal cortex activity in older adults: a functional near-infrared spectroscopy study. Adv Exp Med Biol 765:293–298. doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-4989-8_41

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Urry HL (2009) Using reappraisal to regulate unpleasant emotional episodes: goals and timing matter. Emotion 9:782–797. doi:10.1037/a0017109

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Urry HL (2010) Seeing, thinking, and feeling: emotion-regulating effects of gaze-directed cognitive reappraisal. Emotion 10:125–135. doi:10.1037/a0017434

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vujovic L, Opitz PC, Birk JL, Urry HL (2014) Cut! that’s a wrap: regulating negative emotion by ending emotion-eliciting situations. Front Psychol 5:165. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00165

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Webb TL, Miles E, Sheeran P (2012) Dealing with feeling: a meta-analysis of the effectiveness of strategies derived from the process model of emotion regulation. Psychol Bull 138:775–808. doi:10.1037/a0027600

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Woodman GF (2010) A brief introduction to the use of event-related potentials in studies of perception and attention. Atten Percept Psychophys 72:2031–2046. doi:10.3758/APP.72.8.2031

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zaki J, Hennigan K, Weber J, Ochsner KN (2010) Social cognitive conflict resolution: contributions of domain-general and domain-specific neural systems. J Neurosci 30:8481–8488. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0382-10.2010

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Zigmond AS, Snaith RP (1983) The hospital anxiety and depression scale. Acta Psychiatr Scand 67:361–370

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Brian Westgate for programming the cognitive reappraisal task. The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not reflect those of the United States Army. Research reported was supported through a contract with the US Army Natick Soldier Research, Development, and Engineering Center (NSRDEC, Natick, Massachusetts, USA) under award number W911QY-13-C-0012.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, MA, 02155, USA

    Grace E. Giles, Julie A. Cantelon, Marianna D. Eddy, Tad T. Brunyé, Heather L. Urry, Caroline R. Mahoney & Robin B. Kanarek

  2. Cognitive Science Team, US Army Natick Soldier, Research, Development, and Engineering Center, Natick, MA, 01760, USA

    Grace E. Giles, Julie A. Cantelon, Marianna D. Eddy, Tad T. Brunyé & Caroline R. Mahoney

  3. Center for Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Medford, MA, 02155, USA

    Grace E. Giles, Julie A. Cantelon, Marianna D. Eddy, Tad T. Brunyé, Heather L. Urry & Caroline R. Mahoney

Authors
  1. Grace E. Giles
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Julie A. Cantelon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Marianna D. Eddy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Tad T. Brunyé
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Heather L. Urry
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Caroline R. Mahoney
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Robin B. Kanarek
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Grace E. Giles.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Giles, G.E., Cantelon, J.A., Eddy, M.D. et al. Habitual exercise is associated with cognitive control and cognitive reappraisal success. Exp Brain Res 235, 3785–3797 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-017-5098-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-017-5098-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation