The Effects of a Single Bout of Aerobic Exercise on Cognition: The Moderating Role of Age
Condition: Cognitive Performance
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The current clinical study will have two groups of participants (young adults ages 20 - 30,
      and older adults ages 60 - 70) take part in three visits to the lab. On the first visit
      participants will fill out questionnaires assessing demographics and physical activity level.
      On the 2nd and 3rd visits participants will be engage in both a moderate intensity bout of
      aerobic exercise for 20 minutes, and 20 minutes of resting on a stationary bike watching an
      educational video. These two visits will be counterbalanced across age groups. Following both
      the exercise bout and the resting control condition participants will complete cognitive
      tasks assessing episodic memory and executive functioning. The first hypothesis is that older
      adults who are more physically active (assessed via questionnaire) will have significantly
      greater cognitive abilities compared to those who are less active or sedentary. The second
      hypothesis is that following a single bout of moderate intensity aerobic exercise, older
      adults will have a greater magnitude of change in their short-term memory, and long-term
      memory performance compared to younger adults.
    

Detailed description: 
      Participants who express interest in the study will be contacted by telephone. During this
      phone call, the primary investigator will assess the inclusion/exclusion criteria (i.e.,
      investigators will ask their age, if participants are willing to stay inactive during the
      required times, refrain from caffeine and food intake within an hour of every visit).
      Eligible participants will be scheduled for their 1st visit. On the first day of
      participation in the study, participants will read and sign the informed consent, complete
      questionnaires, and (to further assess their eligibility for both parts of the study)
      participants will perform the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, fill out a physical activity
      questionnaire, and complete a health history form (American College of Sports Medicine). On
      visit 1 participants will also complete cognitive tasks measuring memory and executive
      functioning. Investigators will assess resting heart rate by having participants put on a
      heart rate monitor to record R-R intervals (to assess heart rate variability) at rest for 5
      minutes. If participants meet the eligibility requirements assessed on visit 1 (> 90 mins of
      physical activity/week) participants will qualify and be scheduled for visits 2 and 3.

      During visits 2 and 3, participants will put on a heart rate monitor so that investigators
      can record their heart rate during the two conditions. Participants will then perform one of
      two conditions in a counterbalanced order. Participants will either rest for 25 minutes while
      watching an educational video, do the memory task, complete tasks measuring executive
      functioning (Stroop color word task, spatial working memory task), and do the recall task; or
      exercise for 25 min, do the memory task, complete the executive functioning tasks and do the
      recall task. The memory task is the Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) which consists of
      hearing and recalling a list of 15 words (List A) 5 times, hearing and recalling a different
      list of 15 words (List B), and then recalling List A. Participants will be audio recorded
      during the memory task to ensure that accurate scoring can be completed. The executive
      functioning tasks (Stroop, Spatial working memory task) will involve participants responding
      to stimuli on a computer via a keyboard. The Stroop task requires participants to respond to
      the color of stimuli that come up on the screen and the Spatial working memory task requires
      participants to remember the position of varying numbers of dots. The recall task involves
      participants recalling List A and then being asked to identify from a list of words those
      that came from List A or List B (recognition). The exercise consists of 5-min of warm-up
      followed by 20 min of moderate intensity exercise (55-65% heart rate reserve at 60-80
      revolutions per minute). All exercise and rest periods will be on a cycle ergometer. During
      all memory tasks, there will be audio-taping. Subjects will be scheduled with a minimum of 48
      hours between Day 1 and Day 2 and between Day 2 and Day 3.
    

Intervention name(s): Moderate intensity acute exercise bout
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): The treatment/intervention will consist of 20 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic exercise on a stationary bike. Intensity will be prescribed based off of heart rate reserve.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Crossover Assignment
Intervention model description: Following the first visit, participants will be randomly counterbalanced to one of the two conditions first (exercise, or control condition). Following completion of the first condition, the third visit will be completion of the other condition.
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Basic Science