Acute Exercise Effects On Neurocognitive Function: A Meta-analysis On P3 Amplitude And Latency

PURPOSE: Although the acute effect of exercise on behavioral cognitive performance is well-documented, a comprehensive evaluation on neural activities that support healthy cognitive functioning following acute exercise is lacking. This systematic review meta-analytically examined the changes in P3 component of even-related potential, a neuroelectric marker of neural inhibition underlying attention and executive function processes following a single bout of exercise. METHODS: The systematic review was prospectively registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (CRD42020148238) and conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) statement. The analysis included 33 studies and examined acute exercise effects on P3 through its amplitude and latency, which is theorized to reflect the amounts of attentional resources allocated to and the processing speed for categorizing a stimulus. RESULTS: Exercise has small effects on increasing amplitude (Hedges’ g = 0.312, Confidence Interval [CI] = 0.205 – 0.418) and decreasing latency (g = 0.154, CI = 0.034 – 0.274). The acute exercise effect on amplitude was moderated by exercise intensity (Q[2] = 16.457, p < .001), with a larger effect being observed for moderate (g = 0.460, CI = 0.336 – 0.583) than low (g = 0.205, CI = -0.017 – 0.427) and high intensity exercise (g = 0.128, CI = -0.013 – 0.270). The acute exercise effect on latency was moderated by exercise duration (Q[2] = 7.799, p = .020) and sex (Q[1] = 4.289, p = .038). The exercise-induced decreasing effect on latency was larger for exercise ≤10 min (g = 0.390, CI = 0.088 – 0.692) or ≥ 21 min (g = 0.381, CI = 0.123 – 0.639) and studies including only males (g = 0.413, CI = 0.144 – 0.682) compared with exercise between 11-20 min (g = 0.080, CI = -0.045 – 0.205) and studies including both sexes (g = 0.100, CI = -0.022 – 0.223). CONCLUSION: Exercise temporarily enhances allocation of attentional resources and processing speed needed to implement cognitive processes underlying goal-directed behavior. Further, these acute exercise effects on indices of neural inhibition may depend on sex as well as the dose of exercise such as intensity and duration.