Effects of acute aerobic exercise on exogenous spatial attention

ObjectivesThis study investigates the effect of acute aerobic exercise on exogenous spatial attention and executive control.Designs and MethodParticipants performed an exogenous cueing discrimination task in three situations: at rest, while exercising, and immediately after exercising. The stimulus–response compatibility effect was also measured at each exercise condition.ResultsThe results in the rest session showed the typical facilitation effect at the 100 ms Stimulus Onset Asynchrony (SOA) and the inhibition of return (IOR) effect at the 1000 SOA. While the facilitation effect was present in the three exercise conditions and there was not any significant difference in the magnitude of the effect between them, the IOR effect was significant only in the rest session. The stimulus–response compatibility effect was of a similar magnitude in the three exercise conditions.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates that, compared to a rest condition, an acute bout of aerobic exercise performed during or even immediately before the spatial task, modulates the deployment of exogenous spatial attention.

► Aerobic exercise modulates the deployment of visual exogenous spatial attention.
► The IOR effect is eliminated under physical (aerobic) workload.
► The IOR effect vanishes even when the exercise is performed prior to the cognitive task.
► The response-compatibility effect is not modulated by an acute bout of aerobic exercise.