Background/Purpose The ability of people to remember can often decline with age. Studies in cognition, using both human and animal subjects, have found that routine exercise can improve and prolong cognition. Most studies in human cognition, however, have focused on children or the elderly but not college-aged students. This study investigates the impact of chronic aerobic exercise on executive functioning in college students.
Method Executive functioning was assessed using the Stroop Color-Word Test (Golden, 1978) before and after the exercise program. The participants were full-time, inactive college students (N=32) randomly assigned to either the experimental group (EG) or control group (CG) with equal numbers (n=8) of male and female students in each group. The EG was required to participate in an aerobic exercise program for 45 minutes at an intensity of 75-85% of maximum heart rate, 3 times/week for 6 weeks. The EG could not engage in any other exercise during the experiment. The CG was required not to participate in any exercise during the same interval and maintain the inactive lifestyle.
Analysis/Results A 2x2 (Group x Time) ANOVA with repeated measures was utilized to analyze the difference in selective attention between the two groups. A significant interaction existed between group and time F(1,30) = 20.07, p<0.05. Means of two factors were directly compared due to the levels of variables.
Conclusions The investigation shows that the EG had lower interference scores after the exercise program. Findings suggest that chronic aerobic exercise may facilitate cognitive performance in college students.