Differential influences of exercise intensity on information processing in the central nervous system

• Published in: European journal of applied physiology 2004-07, Vol.92 (3), p.305-311
• Main Authors: Kamijo, Keita, Nishihira, Yoshiaki, Hatta, Arihiro, Kaneda, Takeshi, Wasaka, Toshiaki, Kida, Tetsuo, Kuroiwa, Kazuo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Attention - physiology; Brain - physiology; Cognition - physiology; Electroencephalography; Event-Related Potentials, P300 - physiology; Exercise; Exercise - physiology; Humans; Information Storage and Retrieval - methods; Male; Nervous system; Physical Exertion - physiology; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Reaction Time - physiology
• ISSN: 1439-6319; 1439-6327
• DOI: 10.1007/s00421-004-1097-2

The influence of exercise intensity on information processing in the central nervous system was investigated using P300 and no-go P300 event-related potentials. Twelve subjects (22-33 years) performed a go/no-go reaction time task in a control condition, and again after high-, medium-, and low-intensity pedaling exercises. Compared to the control condition, P300 amplitude decreased after high-intensity pedaling exercise and increased after medium-intensity pedaling exercise. There was no change after low-intensity pedaling exercise. These results suggested that the amount of attentional resources devoted to a given task decreased after high-intensity exercise and increased after medium-intensity exercise. The findings also suggest that changes in P300 amplitude are an inverted U-shaped behavior of differences in exercise intensity. In addition, no-go P300 amplitude showed the same changes as P300 amplitude at different exercise intensities. This indicates that differences in exercise intensity influenced not only the intensity of processing the requirement for a go response, but also processing of the need for a no-go response. It is concluded that differences in exercise intensity influenced information processing in the CNS.