Acute Effects of Exercise Breaks on Attention and Working Memory During a University Lecture: A Group-Randomized Controlled Trial
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31584/jhsmr.20241076Keywords:
attention, exercise breaks, lecture, working memoryAbstract
Objective: This study investigated the acute effects of exercise breaks on attention and working memory during lectures among third-year physical therapy students.
Material and Methods: In total 65 participants were randomly assigned to exercise breaks (N=22), game breaks (N=21), and no breaks (N=22). The lecture was divided into two parts. Participants watched each part of a 50-minute computer-based video lecture. The present study examined the heart rate, perception, attention, and working memory impact of 5-minute breaks. The exercise breaks group performed a series of callisthenic exercises, the game breaks group played a computer game, and the no breaks group watched the entire lecture continuously without breaks. The differences in means for variables among each group were compared using a 3x2 repeated measure Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA).
Results: Exercise breaks during lectures facilitated a positive impact on the modulation of shifting working memory in comparison to game breaks and non-exercise breaks (p-value<0.05). Significant pre-test to post-test in shifting working memory improvements were found in the exercise breaks group (F(2,62)=4.266, p-value=0.018). The variation in mean shifting working memory was 12.1 percent of the effect (np2=0.121). This improvement aligned with better learning results, especially when assessed for immediate outcomes.
Conclusion: Exercise breaks during academic lectures demonstrated a statistically significant impact on shifting working memory. Consequently, further investigations are required to explore the enduring impacts of exercise breaks on cognitive functions in the long term. Additionally, determining the optimal duration of exercise breaks and lecture lengths is essential for guiding university teaching practices.
References
Eze C, Ombajo ME. Lecture duration: a risk factor for quality teaching and learning in higher education. IJET 2017;1:1–5.
Fisch SM. A capacity model of children’s comprehension of educational content on television. Media Psychol 2000;2:63–91.
Hagström E, Lindberg O. Three theses on teaching and learning in higher education. Teach High Educ 2013;18:119–28.
Lindquist SI, McLean JP. Daydreaming and its correlates in an educational environment. Learn Individ Differ 2011;21:158–67.
Szpunar KK, Moulton ST, Schacter DL. Mind wandering and education: from the classroom to online learning. Front Psychol 2013;4:495.
Wammes JD, Seli P, Cheyne JA, Boucher P, Smilek D. Mind wandering during lectures II: relation to academic performance. Scholarsh Teach Learn Psychol 2016;2:33–48.
McEwen BS. Physiology and neurobiology of stress and adaptation: central role of the brain. Physiol Rev 2007;87:873–904.
Brisswalter J, Collardeau M, Arcelin R. Effects of acute physical exercise characteristics on cognitive performance. Sports Med 2002;32:555–66.
Wolf OT. HPA axis and memory. Best Pract Res Clin Endocrinol Metab 2003;17:287–99.
Janssen M, Chinapaw M, Rauh S, Toussaint H, Mechelen W, & Verhagen E. A short physical activity break from cognitive tasks increases selective attention in primary school children aged 10–11. Ment Health Phys Act 2014;7:129–34.
Carpentier FRD, Potter RF. Effects of music on physiological arousal: explorations into tempo and genre. Media Psychol 2007;10:339–63.
Miendlarzewska EA, Trost W. How musical training affects cognitive development: rhythm, reward and other modulating variables. Front Neurosci 2013;7:279.
Perham N, Vizard J. Can preference for background music mediate the irrelevant sound effect? Appl Cogn Psychol 2010;25:625–31.
Schellenberg EG, Nakata T, Hunter PG, Tamoto S. Exposure to music and cognitive performance: tests of children and adults. Psychol Music 2007;35:5–19.
Watchararat S. Development of program group for educational research data analysis [homepage on the Internet]. Phitsanulok: Phitsanulok Polytechnic College; 2009 [cited 2023 Sep 29]. Avaliable from http://202.29.243.161/t.project/web_saksit/
Okunuki T, Koshino Y, Yamanaka M, Tsutsumi K, Igarashi M, Samukawa M, et al. Forefoot and hindfoot kinematics in subjects with medial tibial stress syndrome during walking and running. J Orthop Res Off Publ Orthop Res Soc 2019;37:927–32.
Taddei UT, Matias AB, Ribeiro FIA, Bus SA, Sacco ICN. Effects of a foot strengthening program on foot muscle morphology and running mechanics: a proof-of-concept, single-blind randomized controlled trial. Phys Ther Sport Off J Assoc Chart Physiother Sports Med 2020;42:107–15.
Speer KE, Semple S, Naumovski N, McKune AJ. Measuring heart rate variability using commercially available devices in healthy children: a validity and reliability study. Eur J Investig Health Psychol Educ 2020;10;10:390–404.
Vongspanich W, Komonhirun R, Srilumyai S. Anesthesiology residents’ perception towards educational environment using ATEEM in a medical school in Thailand. Res Dev Med Educ 2020;23;9:16.
Sanit S. Construct validity of cognitive ability test software in the accuracy dimension. EDKKUJ 2019;4:103-17.
Tomporowski PD. Effects of acute bouts of exercise on cognition. Acta Psychologica 2003;112:297–324.
Audiffren M, Tomporowski PD, Zagrodnik J. Acute aerobic exercise and information processing: energizing motor processes during a choice reaction time task. Acta Psychologica 2008;129:410–9.
Fenesi B, Lucibello KM, Kim JA, Heisz JJ. Sweat so you don’t forget: exercise breaks during a university lecture increase on-task attention and learning. J Appl Res Mem Cogn 2018;7:261–9.
Tsukamoto H, Suga T, Takenaka S, Tanaka D, Takeuchi T, Hamaoka T, et al. Greater impact of acute high-intensity interval exercise on post-exercise executive function compared to moderate-intensity continuous exercise. Physiol Behav 2016;155:224–30.
Alves CRR, Tessaro VH, Teixeira L, Murakava K, Roschel H, Gualano B, et al. Influence of acute high-intensity aerobic interval exercise bout on selective attention and short-term memory tasks. Percept Mot Skills 2014;118:63–72.
Kao S, Westfall DR, Soneson J, Gurd BJ, Hillman CH. Comparison of the acute effects of high−intensity interval training and continuous aerobic walking on inhibitory control. Psychophysiology 2017;54:1335–45.
Tilp M, Scharf C, Payer G, Presker M, Fink A. Physical exercise during the morning school−break improves basic cognitive functions. MBE 2019;14:24–31.
Kolovelonis A, Γονδα ς M. The effects of cognitively challenging physical activity games versus health-related fitness activities on students’ executive functions and situational interest in physical education: a group-randomized controlled trial. Eur J Investig Health Psychol Educ 2023;13:796–809.
Lee K, Schull H, Ward-Smith P. Active versus passive learning: perceptions of undergraduate nursing students. JNEP 2016;6:63-6.
Michel N, Cater JJ, Varela OE. Active versus passive teaching styles: an empirical study of student learning outcomes. HRDQ 2009;20:397–418.
Winter B, Breitenstein C, Mooren FC, Voelker K, Fobker M, Lechtermann A, et al. High impact running improves learning. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2007;87:597–609.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
