Acute But Not Chronic Aerobic Exercise Enhances Attention And The Neuroelectric Mismatch Negativity Among Fatigued Individuals

PURPOSE: Symptoms of fatigue are a public health burden, comorbid with both cardiovascular disease and cancer. While exercise requires considerable energy expenditure, both acute and chronic aerobic exercise reduce feelings of fatigue. However, the brain mechanisms underlying this effect are not well-understood. To explore the neural mechanisms of this effect, we examined EEG correlates of attention before and after acute and chronic aerobic exercise. We hypothesized that the lo-intensity acute and chronic effects of exercise would produce increased attentiveness. METHODS: In this pilot study, 13 students, ages 18-36, with elevated levels of fatigue, were randomly assigned to: lo-intensity, hi-intensity, and a no exercise control. Each participant was evaluated pre- and post-exercise three times (e.g., baseline, week 3, and post-intervention) during the 6-week study. At each session participants were outfitted with hi-density EEG and completed an auditory odd-ball task that resulted in a mismatch negativity (MMN). The MMN is an index of pre-attentive change detection, and its amplitude decreases with fatigue. EEG was analyzed via established guidelines including ICA algorithms for artifact-removal. To extract the MMN, the N1 was located in each recording and a difference wave was calculated by subtracting the electrocortical activity to the standards minus targets, in the 100ms after the N1 (120-220ms). RESULTS: A repeated-measures, mixed model ANOVA (3 Group (lo-intensity, hi-intensity, control) x 2 Time (pre/post intervention) x 3 Week (baseline, week 3, post-intervention)) revealed a marginally significant interaction between Group, Time, and Week [F(4,16)=2.79, p=0.06, η2=0.41] such that the MMN was reduced after hi-intensity exercise at the final session. In addition, the 2-way interaction between Group and Time [F2,8)=4.05, p=0.06, η2= 0.50] revealed a marginally significant interaction such that the lo-intensity group showed an increased MMN amplitude post exercise, the hi-intensity group showed a decrease, and the control group showed no change. No other effects were significant (all p>0.24, η2<0.29). DISCUSSION: Our data suggest that automatic pre-attentive change detection is only altered after lo-intensity acute aerobic exercise among our sample of fatigued individuals.