Scientific Programme
Exchange Symposia
IS-EX02 - JSPFSM-ECSS Exchange Symposium: New perspective of exercise-cognition interaction
Date: 02.07.2025, Time: 08:00 - 09:15, Session Room: Anfiteatro
Description
Decades of research have identified that exercise/physical activity supports brain function. In particular, it is well established that acute exercise has the potential to benefit several domains of cognitive function. However, a number of questions remain unanswered. For example, are the beneficial effects of exercise on cognition dependent on time? Can passive exercise (i.e., without voluntary motor control) also benefit cognition? What mechanisms underly acute exercise-related improvements to cognition? To answer these questions, we present a multi-faceted exchange symposium. Our first speaker will discuss the time-dependent effects of physical activity on executive function and mood; with naturalistic studies in children and university students, as well as shift workers. Our second speaker will discuss how passive exercise affects cognition and proposes the potential for passive exercise to support brain health and cognition in various contexts. Finally, our third speaker will explain mechanistic insights into the association between acute exercise and cognitive performance with a special focus on endogenous dopamine release in response to acute exercise. This exchange symposium extends our knowledge of the interactions between exercise and cognition and helps us to understand the importance and far-reaching implications of exercise to promote cognitive health.
Chair(s)
Soichi Ando
University of Electro-Communications, Graduate School of Informatics and Engineering
Japan
Speaker A
Flaminia Ronca
University College London, Sport and Exercise Science
United Kingdom
Read CVECSS Rimini 2025: IS-EX02
Our brain in time: What are the time dependencies of the effects of physical activity on cognitive performance?
It has long been established that physical activity has a positive impact on brain health. As the field of Exercise & Neuroscience develops, it is important to determine how the elements of time may impact such effects in order to support effective interventions and tailored recommendations in this context. Over the past years, our lab has investigated the effects of age, development, time of day and exercise duration on diverse aspects of mental health and cognitive function. We have identified strong effects of chronotype and time of day on executive function and mood, where the beneficial effects of physical activity on the brain may be time-dependent. Equally, we have queried how long do such effects truly last through naturalistic studies with school children, university students and adult shift workers. This talk will embark on a discovery journey, starting from the effects of age on the development of executive function, slowly unpacking how biological clocks, time of day, exercise duration and intensity may all contribute to our optimal brain performance.
Speaker B
Benjamin Tari
University of Oxford, Psychiatry
United Kingdom
Read CVECSS Rimini 2025: IS-EX02
(Passive) Exercise Neuroscience: Realising Untapped Potential to Support Cognition
Regular active exercise (i.e., volitional aerobic/resistance exercise) has numerous health benefits, including, but not limited to, improved functional abilities (e.g., mobility), reduced risk of developing disease, and improved brain health and cognitive performance. However, some individuals (e.g., those with spinal cord injuries, cardiorespiratory disease, and/or movement impairments) may not be able to tolerate regular exercise sessions. This is salient because it is these individuals who suffer from the highest rates of cognitive impairment and may derive the greatest benefit from exercise interventions. Accordingly, an alternative to a traditional “active” exercise intervention is passive exercise. Passive exercise entails movement of the limbs via an external mechanical force and thus does not require volitional muscle control. The majority of research surrounding passive exercise describes its benefits in the context of physical rehabilitation; however, promising initial results hint at its utility to also support brain health and cognition. In particular, passive exercise has been shown to support cognitive function immediately following exercise cessation, and this benefit persists for nearly 30 mins. As well, previous work has demonstrated that passive exercise buffers the negative effects of mental fatigue, and simultaneously supports cognitive function. Accordingly, potential exists for this modality to support cognitive and overall health in additional contexts. This discussion will aim to expand on this potential.
Speaker C
Soichi Ando
University of Electro-Communications, Graduate School of Informatics and Engineering
Japan
Read CVECSS Rimini 2025: IS-EX02
Acute exercise and cognitive performance: neuromodulatory role of dopamine
It is well established that physical activity, or regular habitual exercise, has beneficial effects on a broad array of cognitive functions. A large body of evidence also indicates that acute physical exercise at low to moderate intensity improves cognitive performance, demonstrated by a reduction in reaction time (RT). Decades of research has explored the physiological mechanisms underlying RT improvement induced by acute exercise including, but not limited to, neurochemicals, neurotrophins, cerebral blood flow, and cerebral metabolism. However, the mechanistic understanding of how this occurs is elusive and has not been rigorously investigated in humans. Using positron emission tomography (PET) with [11C]raclopride, we have shown that acute exercise releases endogenous dopamine (DA) in the brain, and that endogenous DA release was correlated with improvements in RT of the Go/No-Go task. A critical step toward understanding how and why acute exercise improves RT is to identify what triggers RT improvement. Follow-up electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) studies demonstrated that EMS with moderate arm cranking improved RT, but RT was not improved following EMS alone or EMS combined with no load arm cranking. The novel mechanistic findings from these experiments suggest that endogenous DA is an important neuromodulator for RT improvement. Additional electrical muscle stimulation studies demonstrated that peripherally driven muscle contractions were insufficient to improve RT. Our novel findings extend our mechanistic understanding of neuromodulation in the human brain following acute physical exercise. The present findings are also likely to contribute to exercise prescription for neurological diseases as the DA systems are important to the aetiology of neurobehavioural disorders including Parkinson’s disease, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and schizophrenia.