A team of researchers has found that six weeks of intense exercise — short bouts of interval training over the course of 20 minutes — showed significant improvements in what is known as high-interference memory, which, for example, allows us to distinguish our car from another of the same make and model.
Heisz et al examined the combined effect of physical exercise and cognitive training on memory and neurotrophic factors in healthy, young adults. Image credit: Sasin Tipchai.
“Improvements in high-interference memory from exercise might help to explain the previously established link between aerobic exercise and better academic performance,” said study lead author Dr. Jennifer Heisz, of McMaster University.
“At the other end of our lifespan, as we reach our senior years, we might expect to see even greater benefits in individuals with memory impairment brought on by conditions such as dementia.”
For the study, 95 participants completed six weeks of exercise training, combined exercise and cognitive training or no training (the control group which did neither and remained sedentary).
Both the exercise and combined training groups improved performance on a high-interference memory task, while the control group did not.
In contrast, neither training group improved on general recognition performance, suggesting that exercise training selectively increases high-interference memory that may be linked to hippocampal function.
Individuals who experienced greater fitness improvements from the exercise training (i.e., high responders to exercise) also had greater increases in the serum neurotrophic factors: insulin-like growth factor-1 and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (a protein that supports the growth, function and survival of brain cells).
These high responders to exercise also had better high-interference memory performance as a result of the combined exercise and cognitive training compared with exercise alone, suggesting that potential synergistic effects might depend on the availability of neurotrophic factors.
“Our results reveal a potential mechanism for how exercise and cognitive training may be changing the brain to support cognition, suggesting that the two work together through complementary pathways of the brain to improve high-interference memory,” Dr. Heisz and co-authors said.
The study is published in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.
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Jennifer J. Heisz et al. 2017. The Effects of Physical Exercise and Cognitive Training on Memory and Neurotrophic Factors. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 29 (11): 1895-1907; doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_01164
