Agentic extraversion moderates the effect of physical exercise on executive shifting performance

• Agentic extraversion moderated the exercise effect on shifting performance.
• High agentic extraverts showed better performance under resting conditions.
• Low agentic extraverts benefitted from the acute intense exercise intervention.
• Non-executive task demands of the shifting task were controlled.
• A dopaminergic mediation of the exercise effect was discussed.

The present study investigated the impact of physical exercise on the executive shifting function in 24 participants low and 24 participants high in agentic extraversion and tested whether agentic extraversion moderated the exercise effect. Participants accomplished a shifting task and a control task that employed the same materials and response procedure as the shifting task but required less central-executive processing. Physical exercise was varied within subjects. The order of conditions was counterbalanced. After resting, the high agentic extraversion group showed higher cognitive flexibility than the low agentic extraversion group, whereas only the low agentic extraversion group improved after exercise. The results showed that agentic extraversion moderated the exercise effect on shifting performance. Implications concerning the hypothetical dopaminergic mediation were discussed.