Effects of acute cardiovascular exercise and coordinative motor activity on verbal functions and attention.

In 30 seconds

This quasi-randomized, pre–post trial compared high-intensity interval training (HIIT), coordinatively demanding motor activity (COOR), and sedentary control in 98 participants, assessing verbal functions and attention immediately and at 24-hour follow-up. Semantic verbal fluency improved significantly after HIIT relative to control (p = .029), while category-switching fluency and attention showed no significant group effects. HIIT also showed a steeper verbal-learning slope than control (p = .044), an exploratory result; consolidation did not differ between groups. Retroactive interference differed significantly, with control participants less susceptible than either activity group.

Key findings

• Semantic verbal fluency improved after HIIT relative to sedentary control (p = .029).
• HIIT showed a steeper verbal-learning slope than control (p = .044), although encoding had no overall group × time effect (p = .258).
• Retroactive interference differed between groups (p = .019); control participants were less susceptible than both intervention groups.
• No significant group effects were found for category-switching fluency (p = .221), attention (p = .187), or consolidation after 20 minutes or 24 hours (p's ≥ .271).

Why it matters

The findings suggest that acute exercise may affect specific verbal processes differently rather than producing a broad improvement in cognition. In particular, semantic lexical retrieval improved after HIIT, while attention and category-switching fluency did not show significant effects. The increased susceptibility to retroactive interference after activity also indicates that cognitive outcomes may vary by task.

What to keep in mind

The trial was quasi-randomized, and the reported effects were specific to selected cognitive measures; the abstract describes the steeper learning slope as exploratory.