Fitness and Memory

The effects of being in good physical health are proving more convincingly to expand beyond the obvious physiological benefits. Research has shown that a higher level of physical fitness can improve a person’s mood, psychophysiological responses to stress, improve self-esteem, and increase psychomotor speed (Blumenthal & Madden, 1988). There is increasing evidence to suggest that physical fitness level may be associated with certain aspects of cognitive functioning as well. Weingarten (1973) found that after a 12 week exercise program college students completing a battery of mental tests showed a significant correlation between increased physical fitness and improvement on tests in the areas of verbal comprehension, visual pursuit, verbal reasoning and symbolic reasoning. Another study in which participants completed a multiplication task immediately following 12 minutes of vigorous exercise indicated that individuals who are more physically fit may be better able to “resist the detrimental effects of physical effort” than are individuals who are less fit (Tomporowski & Ellis, 1986).

The field of neuropsychology has recently provided a great deal of information regarding the relationship between cognitive functioning and physical fitness. Research on the aging brain in animals has found that fMRI results show an increase in activity in areas of the pre-frontal and frontal regions of the brain in response to increased physical fitness via aerobic exercise (Kramer, Hahn, Cohen, Banich, McAuley, Harrison, et al., 1999) A recent study conducted by Colcombe, Kramer, Erickson, Scalf, McAuley, Cohen, et al. (2004) was one of the first to document these same results with human participants. The frontal and pre-frontal cortices are associated with central executive functions such as planning, organization, and working memory. These regions of the brain, which seem to be highly sensitive to physical fitness level, are of particular interest

in humans as they are also areas that seem to experience a disproportionately large degree of deterioration with age (Colcombe, Kramer, Erickson, Scalf, McAuley, Cohen, et al. 2004). Although the exact cause of this activity increase is still somewhat unclear in humans, animal research offers some likely explanations. One explanation offered by Colcombe, Kramer, Erickson, Scalf, McAuley, Cohen, et al. is that having a higher level of physical fitness allows for enhanced blood flow to those areas of the brain associated with executive control. This increased capillary supply results in increased metabolic resources,and thus, improved task performance. The other change, which seems to be of greater importance, is the increase of neurochemicals, especially one in particular called neurotrophin factor. Neurotrophin factor aids in the growth and preservation of neurons, creation of new synapses, and increased flexibility of synapses. All of this, say Colcombe et al. (2004), result in a “…brain that is more efficient, plastic, and adaptive, which translates into better learning and performance…”. Both this study and previous animal research indicate that increased physical fitness also causes a reduction in activity in other areas of the brain that are associated with causing conflict, and thus, slow down, central executive processes. These effects were observed in both people with an already existing high level of physical fitness and in those who participated in a three month exercise program during which they significantly improved physical fitness.

Another study conducted by Kramer et al. (1999) also examined the neurological basis for improved cognitive function as a result of increased physical fitness. The study examined the results of participants’ performance on cognitive tasks that either did or did not involve central executive processes both before and after a six month exercise program that was either aerobic or anaerobic in nature. This study also showed a

significant improvement in performance on cognitive tasks in correlation to improved physical fitness. In addition, the study found that performance on tasks not related to executive processes were not significantly benefited from exercise and that anaerobic exercise did not produce significantly improved performance on any of the tasks. Further more, because the study was conducted using participants who were previously “unfit”, the results imply that aerobic exercise may be beneficial to cognitive functions related to the frontal and pre-frontal cortices after even only a short period of time (Kramer et al.).

Memory is a significant

Memory, and more specifically, short-term and working memory, has been a particular area of interest in research considering the effects of physical fitness on cognitive abilities. Memory seems to be related to many aspects of intelligence and, as discussed prior, is prone