Acute Exercise Improves Inhibitory Control but Not Error Detection in Male Violent Perpetrators: An ERPs Study With the Emotional Stop Signal Task

Chia-Chuan Yu; Chiao-Yun Chen; Neil G Muggleton; Cheng-Hung Ko; Suyen Liu

doi:10.3389/fnhum.2022.796180

Acute Exercise Improves Inhibitory Control but Not Error Detection in Male Violent Perpetrators: An ERPs Study With the Emotional Stop Signal Task

Front Hum Neurosci. 2022 Apr 13:16:796180. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.796180. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Chia-Chuan Yu^{1

2}, Chiao-Yun Chen³, Neil G Muggleton^{4

5

6

7}, Cheng-Hung Ko⁸, Suyen Liu²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Kinesiology and Health Education, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States.
² Department of Athletic Sports, National Chung Cheng University, Minxiong, Taiwan.
³ Department and Graduate Institute of Criminology, National Chung Cheng University, Minxiong, Taiwan.
⁴ Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Central University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
⁵ Brain Research Center, National Central University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
⁶ Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
⁷ Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, United Kingdom.
⁸ Integrated Drug Addiction Treatment Center of the Jianan Psychiatric Center, Ministry of Health and Welfare in Taiwan, Taipei, Taiwan.

Abstract

Violence has been linked to the co-occurrence of cognitive dysfunction and altered activations in several brain regions. Empirical evidence demonstrated the benefits of acute exercise on motor inhibition and error detection and their neuronal processing. However, whether such effects also hold for the population with violent behaviors remains unknown. This study examined the effects of acute aerobic exercise on inhibitory control and error monitoring among violent offenders. Fifteen male violent offenders were counterbalanced into experimental protocols, which comprised a 30-min moderately aerobic exercise [60% heart rate (HR) reserve] and a 30-min reading control session. After each session, participants performed an emotional stop signal task while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded simultaneously. Results showed insignificant changes in ERPs components [i.e., N2, P3, error-related negativity (ERN), and error-positivity (Pe) amplitudes] and the behavioral performance in go condition, stop accuracy, and post-error adjustments by exercise. However, the current study demonstrated that the acute exercise facilitated stop signal reaction time (SSRT) when compared to the control session regardless of emotional conditions. This is the first research to exhibit the improvements in inhibitory performance by acute exercise for violent offenders. Most importantly, this effect was independent of affective settings, expanding the existing knowledge of the influences of acute exercise on cognition. Our findings implicate the perspective of acute exercise for clinical and correctional practices.

Keywords: International Affective Picture System (IAPS); aerobic exercise; event-related potential (ERP); executive function; violence.