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Executive function

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Postexercise Executive Function Benefits And Cerebral Blood Flow: In The Lab And At Home, Benjamin Tari Nov 2022

Postexercise Executive Function Benefits And Cerebral Blood Flow: In The Lab And At Home, Benjamin Tari

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

A single bout of aerobic exercise improves executive function; however, the mechanism, or mechanisms, supporting this improvement remain unclear. One candidate mechanism is an exercise-mediated increase in cerebral blood flow (CBF) that enhances the efficiency of executive-related frontoparietal networks. To evaluate the link between exercise, CBF and executive function, three separate experiments were conducted. In the first study, separate 10-min sessions of moderate-to-heavy-intensity aerobic exercise, and a hypercapnic environment (i.e., 5% CO2) were implemented. The hypercapnic condition was included because it increases CBF independent of the metabolic demands of exercise. The second study investigated whether exercise intensity-specific changes …


Oculomotor Task-Switching Performance Improves And Persists Following A Single Bout Of Aerobic Exercise, Diksha Shukla Apr 2020

Oculomotor Task-Switching Performance Improves And Persists Following A Single Bout Of Aerobic Exercise, Diksha Shukla

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Executive function includes the core components of response inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. Interestingly, an accumulating evidence has reported that inhibitory control and working memory improve following a single bout of exercise. It is, however, largely unclear whether cognitive flexibility elicits a similar post-exercise benefit. Accordingly, Chapter Two of my thesis examined whether 20-min of aerobic exercise provides an immediate post-exercise ‘boost’ to cognitive flexibility. Chapter Three examined for how long a putative post-exercise benefit persists. Cognitive flexibility was examined via an AABB task-switching paradigm wherein participants alternated between a well-practiced and a novel oculomotor task pre- and post-exercise. …