The acute effect of moderate-intensity exercise on inhibitory control and activation of prefrontal cortex in younger and older adults

Exercise has a significant effect on maintaining the health of inhibitory function, a fundamental cognitive ability that supports daily mental processes. While previous studies have shown that a single bout of exercise, called acute exercise, could improve inhibitory control by stimulating the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the arousal state, few studies have focused on the differences in the effects of exercise by age. In this study, young and older adults (mean age, 22.7 ± 1.4 and 68.7 ± 5.3 years, respectively) engaged in acute moderate-intensity exercise and inhibitory control. Before and at 5 and 30 min after exercise, the participants were asked to complete the reverse Stroop task, and their arousal state and PFC activity were measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. The findings showed that the overall inhibitory control improved immediately after performing acute exercise and remained improved even after 30 min. Particularly, there was a difference in the arousal state and middle PFC activity between the two age groups. Especially, the young adults showed an increase in the arousal state post-exercise, while the older adults tended to show an increase in the middle PFC activity. These results suggested that the acute exercise effects on the arousal state and PFC activity may vary depending on the developmental stage, but not for inhibitory control overtime. When these findings are considered, it is important to note that the exercise impact on cognitive control remained the same throughout the generations despite the observed changes in its impact on internal states.