Abstract
Introduction
Studies of cerebral haemodynamics have shown changes with increased exercise intensity, but the patterns have been highly variable and reliable associations with cognitive performance have not been identified. The aim of this study was to examine whether exercise-induced changes in oxygenated haemoglobin (O2Hb) led to changes in concomitant cognitive performance.
Methods
This study examined cardiorespiratory and cerebral haemodynamics during multi-stage exercise from rest to exhaustion, with (Ex + C) and without (Ex) concurrent cognitive performance (Go/No-go task).
Results
The presence of the cognitive task affected both cardiorespiratory and cerebral haemodynamics. The patterns in the cerebral haemodynamics during Ex and Ex + C diverged above the respiratory compensation threshold (RCT), but differences were significant only at 100% \(\dot {V}{{\text{O}}_{{\text{2max}}}}\), displaying increased deoxygenated haemoglobin (HHb), decreased difference between oxygenated and deoxygenated haemoglobin (HbDiff), and decreased cerebral oxygenation (COx) during Ex + C. More complex haemodynamic trends against intensity during Ex + C suggested that the presence of a cognitive task increases cerebral metabolic demand at high exercise intensities. The levels of O2Hb, HHb, HbDiff and total haemoglobin increased most steeply at intensities around the RCT during both Ex and Ex + C, but these changes were not accompanied by improved cognitive performance.
Conclusion
The primary hypothesis, that cognitive performance would match changes in O2Hb, was not supported. Small variations in reaction time and response accuracy across exercise intensities were not significant, suggesting that cognitive performance is unaffected by intense short-duration exercise. Our results add further evidence that exercise-induced changes in cerebral haemodynamics do not affect cognitive performance.
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Abbreviations
- ANOVA:
-
Analysis of variance
- COx:
-
Cerebral oxygenation
- Ex:
-
Exercise only group
- Ex + C:
-
Exercise and cognition group
- HbDiff:
-
Difference between oxygenated and deoxygenated haemoglobin
- HHb:
-
Deoxygenated haemoglobin
- HR:
-
Heart rate
- mL · kg−1 · min1 :
-
Millilitres per kilogram per minute
- NIRS:
-
Near-infrared spectroscopy
- O2Hb:
-
Oxygenated haemoglobin
- PETCO2 :
-
Partial pressure of end-tidal carbon dioxide
- POmax :
-
Maximal power output
- RCT:
-
Respiratory compensation threshold
- RR:
-
Respiratory rate
- RT:
-
Reaction time
- THb:
-
Total haemoglobin
- \(\dot {V}{{\text{O}}_{{\text{2max}}}}\) :
-
Maximal rate of oxygen consumption
- \(\dot {V}{{\text{O}}_2}\) :
-
Volume of oxygen consumption
- \(\dot {V}{\text{C}}{{\text{O}}_2}\) :
-
Volume of carbon dioxide consumption
- V t :
-
Tidal volume
- VE:
-
Minute ventilation
- \({\text{VE/}}\dot {V}{\text{C}}{{\text{O}}_2}\) :
-
Ratio of minute ventilation to volume of carbon dioxide consumption
- W:
-
Watts
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Glen Davis for access to the near-infrared spectroscopy equipment and Che Fornusek for assistance in its operation. We thank John Eisenhuth for construction of the Go/No-go instrumentation.
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No funding was used to support this study.
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CMC conceived the original design, with all authors contributing to the design of the final study. DS conducted the experiment. DS, NOD and MH analysed the data. DS drafted the manuscript, to which all authors contributed.
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Communicated by Mark Olfert.
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Stevens, D., Halaki, M., Chow, C. et al. The effects of multi-stage exercise with and without concurrent cognitive performance on cardiorespiratory and cerebral haemodynamic responses. Eur J Appl Physiol 118, 2121–2132 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-018-3942-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-018-3942-8