Zinke, K. , Einert, M. , Pfennig, L. & Kliegel, M.
Department of Psychology. Technische Universität Dresden. Dresden, Germany.
Cognitive training can enhance performance in executive control tasks. Performance in these tasks has also been shown to be influenced by short bouts of physical exercise. Current study was designed to explore whether acute bouts of exercise (cycling on a stationary bike) directly prior to cognitive training (practicing task switching) can enhance training effects. For that purpose, a group of adolescents (10-14 years) that received a three-week cognitive training was compared to a group that received the same cognitive training but who exercised before each training session. Additionally, a no-contact and an exercise-only control group were included. All groups comprised 20 participants that were matched in age, gender, and basic cognitive functioning. Analyses indicated that both training groups significantly reduced their switching costs over the course of the training sessions and also reduced their mixing costs in a near transfer task more than the non-trained control groups. Interestingly, there was tendency for the exercise-and-cognitive-training group to commit fewer errors during training compared to the cognitive-training-only group. These findings indicate that cognitive control can be enhanced in adolescents through training and prior exercise may influence some aspects of these training effects.