The Effects of Exercise on Executive Functions

Self-regulation, self-control, and executive functioning are umbrella constructs that
encompass processes involved in exerting control over cognitive and behavioral processes.
Self-regulation was described as an ability reflecting mature cognition: Mature cognition is
characterized by abilities that include being able: (a) to hold information in mind,
including complicated representational structures, to mentally manipulate that information
and to act on the basis of it, (b) to act on the basis of choice rather than impulse,
exercising self-control (or self-regulation) by resisting inappropriate behaviors and
responding appropriately, and (c) to quickly and flexibly adapt behavior to changing
situations. These abilities are referred to respectively as working memory, inhibition, and
cognitive flexibility. Together they are key components of both "cognitive control" and
"executive functions…" Some researchers have proposed an integrative framework of
self-regulation than encompasses executive functions and self-control. Thus, in this
proposal, we have adopted such an integrative framework whereby self-regulation encompasses
executive functions, self-control, and other sub-processes. As noted in the specific aims,
our meta-analysis and narrative review examining the impact of 28 physical activity (PA) and
exercise interventions on EF outcomes in healthy children reported that the targets often
shown to improve after exercise were attention, working memory, inhibition, and cognitive
flexibility, and preliminary research suggests the strongest effects are on attention and
inhibition. The goal of this project is to develop an assay to examine engagement of
attention and inhibitory control across several rigorously controlled exercise conditions.
This proposal is built on an integrative framework whereby self-regulation encompasses
executive functions (EF), self-control, and other sub-processes. Although there is a growing
awareness of the benefits of exercise on self-regulatory processes in children including EF,
there are still many critical gaps in the research. A recent publication which is a
meta-analysis and narrative review examining the impact of 28 physical activity and exercise
interventions on EF outcomes in healthy children that highlights some of these gaps. Although
earlier results showed that interventions had a significant, small to moderate positive
effect on EF, the effects varied widely across studies. This research informed this
application in several ways. First, no study demonstrated how or why the interventions
improved EF outcomes. Additionally, the behavioral assays or measures varied widely targeting
numerous components of EF. The EF targets most often shown to improve after exercise were
attention, working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility (each improved in at least
five of the included studies). These findings are consistent with recent work at the UC
Irvine Pediatric Exercise and Genomics Research Center (PERC); in studies with healthy
children and children with special needs, improvements were found after exercise in all four
components. Few, if any, studies have been able to demonstrate empirically why participants
exhibit improvements in EF after exercise, and studies have not yet demonstrated engagement
of EF during exercise. Thus, there is a need to understand why exercise seems to improve
these targets. However, the tools used in exercise research to date are limited. Many have
been adopted from developmental or educational research, rather than developed specifically
to test targets in exercise research; our search yielded only one published measure of
self-regulation (cognitive, affective, and motor self-regulation) that has been administered
during physical activity. This proposal begins to address these gaps in the literature, by
focusing on the development of an assay for important EF targets are improved through
exercise and by testing engagement of these targets during exercise of varying intensity

Inclusion Criteria:

- Absence of health problems that would preclude participation in exercise

- Male or female between the ages of 10-15 years inclusive at the time of consent

- Minimum level of intellectual functioning, as determined by an IQ (based on cognitive
testing) score of 80 or above

- Ability to complete EF testing in English

Exclusion Criteria:

- Other limitations which in the opinion of a physician would preclude ability to
perform exercise testing

- Use of illegal drugs or abuse of alcohol based on self-report during screening (this
will occur during the one-on-one brief psychological evaluation)

- Pregnancy or breastfeeding based on urine sample test