Sedentary Time is Inversely Related to Behavioral and Neuroelectric Indices of Cognitive Control
Authors: Baumgartner Nicholas W. , Walk Anne M. , Edwards Caitlyn G. , Curran Morgan R. , Covello Alicia R. , Reeser Ginger E. , Khan Naiman A. 
Published: November 2023

There is an increasing prevalence of physical inactivity across the globe, contributing to a host of negative health outcomes including an increased risk for heart disease and diabetes. More recently, the time that adults spend sedentary, known to be distinct from low physical activity, has been proposed as a major public health concern with converging evidence indicating that sedentary time is likely to further exacerbate the detrimental health implications of failure to meet physical activity guidelines. However, the implications of habitual sedentary time on cognitive health remains poorly understood. Accordingly, the current study examined the relationship between % time spent being sedentary (%sedentary) and behavioral and neuroelectric indices of cognitive control. Bivariate and partial correlation analyses (two‐tailed) were conducted among a sample of adults between 25–45 years (N=72, 42 females). Daily %sedentary time (<1.5 METs) was monitored using an accelerometer (Actigraph GT3X+) worn for at least 4 days (minimum 8 hours/day). Selective attention, a vital component of cognitive control, was assessed using a modified Eriksen Flanker task. In addition to behavioral performance measures (i.e., accuracy and reaction time), neuroelectric function was assessed using event‐related brain potentials. Specifically, the changes (incongruent ‐ congruent task conditions) in amplitude of the P3 waveform in a region of interest (ROI) was used to index the ability for upregulation of attentional control. This ROI over the central parietal region (C1, CZ, C2, CP1, CPZ, CP2) was selected based on electrodes with the greatest mean amplitude during testing. After adjusting for age, %sedentary time was not significantly related to reaction time measures or congruent accuracy (all Ps>0.05). However, %sedentary time was inversely associated with accuracy during the incongruent trials (r=−0.24, P=0.04). Further, %sedentary time was inversely related to the difference in the ROI mean amplitude (r=−0.27, P=0.02), whereby participants who spent more of their time being sedentary exhibited poorer ability for upregulation of attentional resource allocation when faced with greater task demands. In conclusion, these findings indicate that time spent being sedentary is selectively and negatively related to behavioral performance during the task condition requiring upregulation of cognitive control. These results were further supported by the neuroelectric data demonstrating that individuals who spent less time being sedentary exhibited significant changes in patterns of attentional resource allocation between task conditions, whereas their more sedentary counterparts exhibited poorer modulation of attentional resources when faced with greater task demands. Given that adults in the United States spend a considerable proportion of their working day engaging in sedentary behaviors (~9 hours/day), these findings provide additional support for public health initiatives to decrease sedentary behaviors to prevent decrements in not only physical but cognitive health as well.

Support or Funding Information

Funded by the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health at the University of Illinois and the Hass Avocado Board