Cited by 589Physical Activity and HealthNeural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesCardiovascular and exercise physiology

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Acute effects of moderate aerobic exercise on specific aspects of executive function in different age and fitness groups: A meta‐analysis

Ludyga, Sebastian, Gerber, Markus, Brand, Serge, Holsboer‐Trachsler, Edith, Pühse, Uwe·2016·Psychophysiology

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Abstract

Whereas a wealth of studies have investigated acute effects of moderate aerobic exercise on executive function, the roles of age, fitness, and the component of executive function in this relationship still remain unclear. Therefore, the present meta‐analysis investigates exercise‐induced benefits on specific aspects of executive function in different age and aerobic fitness subgroups. Based on data from 40 experimental studies, a small effect of aerobic exercise on time‐dependent measures (g = .35) and accuracy (g = .22) in executive function tasks was confirmed. The results further suggest that preadolescent children (g = .54) and older adults (g = .67) compared to other age groups benefit more from aerobic exercise when reaction time is considered as dependent variable. In contrast to age, aerobic fitness and the executive function component had no influence on the obtained effect sizes. Consequently, high aerobic fitness is no prerequisite for temporary improvements of the executive control system, and low‐ as well as high‐fit individuals seem to benefit from exercise in a similar way. However, a higher sensitivity of executive function to acute aerobic exercise was found in individuals undergoing developmental changes. Therefore, preadolescent children and older adults in particular might strategically use a single aerobic exercise session to prepare for a situation demanding high executive control.

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“This suggests that the interventions (exercise and rest) did not exhibit a speed-accuracy tradeoff effect on inhibitory control [41].”
The acute effects of continuous and intermittent cycling on executive function in children
Martins, R., Duncan, M. J., Clark, C. C. T., & Eyre, E. L. J. (2021) · Acta Psychologica · doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2021.103363 · Cited by 12
Effects of a Brief Stair-Climbing Intervention on Cognitive Functioning and Mood States in Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial
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The effect of Three-Circle Post Standing (Zhanzhuang) Qigong on the physical and psychological well-being of college students
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“Previous research [51] has reported that even modest improvements in executive function are positively associated with enhanced performance in instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs).”
Impact of Prescribed Exercise on the Physical and Cognitive Health of Adults with Down Syndrome: The MinDSets Study
Merzbach, V., Ferrandino, M., Gernigon, M., Pinto, J. M., Scruton, A., & Gordon, D. A. (2023) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph20237121 · Cited by 10
Physical activity on executive function in sedentary individuals: Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
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Acute aerobic exercise modulates cognition and cortical excitability in adults with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and healthy controls
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Passive and active exercise do not mitigate mental fatigue during a sustained vigilance task
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“On the other hand, a single bout of aerobic and/or resistance exercise elicits a postexercise EF benefit (for meta-analyses see, Chang et al. 2012; Ishihara et al. 2021; Lambourne and Tomporowski 2010; Ludyga et al. 2016).”
Influential
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Acute effects of light-intensity, slow-tempo aerobic dance exercise on mood and executive function in older adults
Hyodo, K., Jindo, T., Suwabe, K., Soya, H., & Nagamatsu, T. (2019) · doi:10.20793/tairyokukenkyu.117.0_8 · Cited by 13
Intensity-dependent acute aerobic exercise: Effect on reactive control of attentional functions in acclimatized lowlanders at high altitude
Su, R., Wang, C., Liu, W., Han, C., Fan, J., Ma, H., Li, H., & Zhang, D. (2022) · Physiology & Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2022.113785 · Cited by 10
Acute effects of mindful interval exercise on cognitive performance in a higher education setting
Kao, S., Baumgartner, N. W., Pritt, T., Wu, S., Schmitt, S. A., Ullrich-French, S. C., & Wang, C. (2022) · Psychology of sport and exercise · doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2022.102326 · Cited by 11
A randomized cross‐over trial investigating the neurocognitive effects of acute exercise on face recognition in children with autism spectrum disorder
Ludyga, S., Gerber, M., Bruggisser, F., Leuenberger, R., Brotzmann, M., Trescher, S., Förster, M., Zou, L., Herbrecht, E., & Hanke, M. (2023) · Autism Research · doi:10.1002/aur.2977 · Cited by 12
Self-citation
Motor-cognitive dual-tasking under hypoxia
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Prefrontal high definition cathodal tDCS modulates executive functions only when coupled with moderate aerobic exercise in healthy persons
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The Impact of the Daily Mile™ on School Pupils’ Fitness, Cognition, and Wellbeing: Findings From Longer Term Participation
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Exercise engagement drives changes in cognition and cardiorespiratory fitness after 8 weeks of aerobic training in sedentary aging adults at risk of cognitive decline
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“Moreover, our study design with a one-on-one experimenter-child setting rules out alternative explanations due to social interaction influences in a group setting [11] or bias from an unblinded experimenter assessing children’s EFs [58].”
Background
Exploring the Acute Effects of the Daily Mile™ vs. Shuttle Runs on Children’s Cognitive and Affective Responses
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“37) HR rest bouts 170 [10] 550 m Score 0.”
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Hall, P. A., Erickson, K. I., Lowe, C. J., & Sakib, M. N. (2020) · Psychosomatic Medicine · doi:10.1097/psy.0000000000000785 · Cited by 9
Cognitive Dysfunction and Exercise: From Epigenetic to Genetic Molecular Mechanisms
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“Thus, it is clear that in addition to the widely recognized benefits of extended physical activity on our cognitive function, participating in a single exercise session can also be employed to improve executive functioning in situations that require it [26].”
Acute moderate-intensity aerobic exercise facilitates processing speed involving inhibitory control but not neuroelectric index of control process and cognitive integration
Hsieh, S., McGowan, A. L., Chandler, M. C., & Pontifex, M. B. (2024) · International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology · doi:10.1080/1612197x.2024.2365374 · Cited by 9
“…of literature demonstrating the beneficial effects of acute bouts of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise on cognitive control (Kao et al., 2022; Ludyga et al., 2016; Pontifex et al., 2019), a cognitive process involves in goal-oriented behaviours (Diamond, 2013), the underlying neural…”
Acute effects of exercise on gaze fixation and affective response inhibition in children with autism spectrum disorder: A randomized cross‐over study
Ludyga, S., Bruggisser, F., Leuenberger, R., Ishihara, T., Kamijo, K., Brotzmann, M., Trescher, S., Förster, M., & Gerber, M. (2024) · Autism Research · doi:10.1002/aur.3224 · Cited by 8
“However, meta-analytical findings derived from healthy populations suggest that acute exercise benefits inhibitory control (Liu et al., 2020), with more pronounced benefits of moderate-intense aerobic exercise for children compared to adults (Ludyga et al., 2016).”
InfluentialSelf-citation
Efficacy of wooden toy training in alleviating cognitive decline in elderly individuals with cognitive impairment: A cluster randomized controlled study
Cheng, Q., Wang, H., Cui, M., Wang, Q., & Lu, L. (2024) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0309685 · Cited by 8
The effects of a short exercise bout on executive functions in healthy older adults
Martini, M., Enoch, J., & Kramer, A. F. (2024) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-024-79685-5 · Cited by 11
Within-subject reliability, occasion specificity, and validity of fluctuations of the Stroop and go/no-go tasks in ecological momentary assessment
Hachenberger, J., Mayer, A., Kerkhoff, D., Eyssel, F., Fries, S., Lonsdorf, T. B., Zech, H., Deserno, L., & Lemola, S. (2024) · Behavior Research Methods · doi:10.3758/s13428-024-02567-1 · Cited by 10
Physical education exercise improves physical fitness and working memory function: a randomized controlled trial study of Uyghur adolescents in Xinjiang, China
Cai, X., Liu, Y., Li, Y., & Chen, Z. (2025) · BMC Pediatrics · doi:10.1186/s12887-025-05511-0 · Cited by 10
“Note: * denotes P 0.05, ** denotes P 0.01, *** denotes P 0.001 [44].”
Influential
Brain Health Indicators Following Acute Neuro-Exergaming: Biomarker and Cognition in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) after Pedal-n-Play (iPACES)
Nath, K., Ferguson, I., Puleio, A., Wall, K. M., Stark, J. H., Clark, S., Story, C. M., Cohen, B. D., & Anderson‐Hanley, C. (2023) · Brain Sciences · doi:10.3390/brainsci13060844 · Cited by 8
“Previous literature has shown that executive function is the major domain that improves due to exercise and exergaming [12,15,17,41,44,59,67,75,93,103,108,109,115].”
Fat loss and muscle gain: The possible role of cortical glutamate in determining the efficacy of physical exercise
Abdullah, M., Lin, S., Huang, L.-C., Chen, P. S., Tseng, H., & Yang, Y. K. (2024) · Obesity Research & Clinical Practice · doi:10.1016/j.orcp.2024.04.004 · Cited by 8
Experimental Effects of Exercise on Forgetting
Ferguson, L., Cantrelle, J., & Loprinzi, P. D. (2018) · OBM Integrative and Complementary Medicine · doi:10.21926/obm.icm.1804034 · Cited by 8
Feasibility of a Functional Medicine Approach to Slowing Clinical Cognitive Decline in Patients over Age 55: A Multiple Case Study Report
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“Physical activity as a neuroprotective practice has been well documented in the past decade [25-28], and with recent advances in medical technology we are now able to understand some of the underlying mechanisms of why this is so.”
Background
Transgenerational Effects of Traumatic Historical Events on the Incidence of Metabolic Syndrome/ Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in the Romanian Population
Stoica, V., Gârdan, D. A., Constantinescu, I., Gârdan, I. P., Calenic, B., & Diculescu, M. (2020) · Journal of Medicine and Life · doi:10.25122/jml-2020-0156 · Cited by 8
“In rodents, it seems that early adversity has specific effects on the development of emotional learning systems [32, 33].”
Background
Effects of exercise intensity and duration at a predetermined exercise volume on executive function among Apolipoprotein E (APOE)-ɛ4 carriers
Chang, Y., Karageorghis, C. I., Wang, C.-C., Li, R., Chen, F., Fang, R.-Y., & Hung, T. (2022) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-022-03257-x · Cited by 9
Cognitive Performance following Single- or Multi-Session Exercise Intervention in Middle Age: A Systematic Review
Ahmed, F. S., McMillan, T. M., Guenther, B. A., & Dearborn, P. J. (2022) · Experimental Aging Research · doi:10.1080/0361073x.2022.2137360 · Cited by 8
“A meta-analysis of 80 exercise intervention/cognition RCTs revealed greater effect sizes for longer interventions (Ludyga et al., 2016).”
Method
The effect of acute exercise on cognitive and motor inhibition – Does fitness moderate this effect?
Netz, Y., Herschkovitz, S. F., Levin, O., & Ziv, G. (2022) · Psychology of sport and exercise · doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2022.102344 · Cited by 11
A multimodal approach integrating cognitive and motor demands into physical activity for optimal mental health: Methodological issues and future directions
Kao, S., Brush, C. J., & Wang, C. (2024) · Progress in brain research · doi:10.1016/bs.pbr.2024.05.011 · Cited by 9

Authors: Ludyga, S., Gerber, M., Brand, S., Holsboer‐Trachsler, E., & Pühse, U.
Affiliations: University of Basel (CH)
Corresponding author: Ludyga, Sebastian
ORCID: Ludyga, Sebastian
Gerber, Markus
Brand, Serge
Pühse, Uwe
Venue: Psychophysiology
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2016-08-24
Volume: 53
Issue: 11
Pages: 1611-1626
ISSN: 0048-5772 (ISSN-L)
1469-8986
DOI: 10.1111/psyp.12736
OpenAlex: W2518187356
Semantic Scholar: c6cbe3b03cf7ae80284796b5af70690b72a4c36d
Cited by: 589
References: 118
Citations by year: 2026: 54 · 2025: 60 · 2024: 61 · 2023: 79 · 2022: 81 · 2021: 55 · 2020: 66 · 2019: 70 · 2018: 40 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 3
FWCI: 5.17
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Licence: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor)
Locations: Psychophysiology (publishedVersion)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
edoc (University of Basel) (submittedVersion)
Topics: Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Physical Activity and Health
Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology (medical) › Cardiovascular and exercise physiology
Keywords: acute aerobic exercise, executive function, cardiorespiratory fitness, age differences, preadolescents, older adults, reaction time, task accuracy, cognitive performance
MeSH terms: Adolescent, Adult, Age Factors, Aged, Child, Female, Health Status, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Physical Fitness, Reaction Time, Exercise, Body Mass Index, Young Adult, Executive Function

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Acute effects of moderate aerobic exercise on specific aspects of executive function in different age and fitness groups: A meta‐analysis

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