Regular Vigorous-Intensity Physical Activity and Walking Are Associated with Divergent but not Convergent Thinking in Japanese Young Adults

Physical activity for cognitive health promotion: An overview of the underlying neurobiological mechanisms

Physical activity is one of the modifiable factors of cognitive decline and dementia with the strongest evidence. Although many influential reviews have illustrated the neurobiological mechanisms of the cognitive benefits of physical activity, none of them have linked the neurobiological mechanisms to normal exercise physiology to help the readers gain a more advanced, comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon. In this review, we address this issue and provide a synthesis of the literature by focusing on five most studied neurobiological mechanisms. We show that the body's adaptations to enhance exercise performance also benefit the brain and contribute to improved cognition. Specifically, these adaptations include, 1), the release of growth factors that are essential for the development and growth of neurons and for neurogenesis and angiogenesis, 2), the production of lactate that provides energy to the brain and is involved in the synthesis of glutamate and the maintenance of long-term potentiation, 3), the release of anti-inflammatory cytokines that reduce neuroinflammation, 4), the increase in mitochondrial biogenesis and antioxidant enzyme activity that reduce oxidative stress, and 5), the release of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and 5-HT that regulate neurogenesis and modulate cognition. We also discussed several issues relevant for prescribing physical activity, including what intensity and mode of physical activity brings the most cognitive benefits, based on their influence on the above five neurobiological mechanisms. We hope this review helps readers gain a general understanding of the state-of-the-art knowledge on the neurobiological mechanisms of the cognitive benefits of physical activity and guide them in designing new studies to further advance the field.

Acute and Chronic Physical Activity Increases Creative Ideation Performance: A Systematic Review and Multilevel Meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Physical activity is a health-relevant lifestyle factor associated with various benefits on physical and mental health. Several meta-analyses indicated effects of acute and chronic physical activities on elementary cognitive functions such as executive control processes, memory, and attention. Meta-analytic evidence on the effects of physical activity on creative idea generation, which involves a conglomerate of these elementary cognitive functions, is largely missing.

OBJECTIVE

A twofold approach was used to evaluate (1) if there is an association between habitual physical activity and creative ideation and (2) if physical activity interventions (acute and chronic) enhance creative ideation performance.

METHODS

Multilevel meta-analytic methods were applied to (1) evaluate the cross-sectional association between creative ideation performance and measures of habitual physical activity and (2) the effect of physical activity on creative ideation performance. Indicators of creative ideation (fluency, flexibility, originality, elaboration, or composite score), creativity domain (verbal, figural), population (adults, children), gender, study quality, and publication year served as moderator variables for both meta-analyses. Analyses of intervention studies additionally examined the moderator variables study design (between, within), time of measurement (during, after), and implementation of intervention (acute, chronic).

RESULTS

The applied meta-analytic multilevel analysis indicated a medium effect for cross-sectional studies (r = 0.22, SE = 0.06, p = 0.002, 95% CI [0.10-0.34]) based on 17 effects sizes from seven studies. The pooled effects of 28 intervention studies, providing 115 effect sizes, indicated a medium effect size of Hedges' g = 0.47 (SE = 0.09, p < 0.001, 95% CI [0.30-0.65]). Furthermore, a stronger effect was observed for chronic interventions of several days or weeks in comparison with acute interventions of one single bout.

CONCLUSION

This study adds important new meta-analytic evidence on the beneficial role of physical activity beyond mental and physical health outcomes: Physical activity has a positive impact on creative ideation, which expands the literature on the role of physical activity in more elementary cognitive functions such as executive control, memory, and attention. Moderator analyses suggested that chronic interventions showed stronger effects than single bouts of physical activity. Rigorously conducted randomized controlled intervention studies and more cross-sectional studies are needed to broaden the evidence in this nascent field of research.

The Effect of Brief Stair-Climbing on Divergent and Convergent Thinking

Recent studies show that even a brief bout of aerobic exercise may enhance creative thinking. However, few studies have investigated the effect of exercise conducted in natural settings. Here, in a crossover randomized controlled trial, we investigated the effect of a common daily activity, stair-climbing, on creative thinking. As experimental intervention, subjects were asked to walk downstairs from the fourth to the first floor and back at their usual pace. As control intervention, they walked the same path but using the elevator instead. Compared to using the elevator, stair-climbing enhanced subsequent divergent but not convergent thinking in that it increased originality on the Alternate Use Test (d = 0.486). Subjects on average generated 61% more original uses after stair-climbing. This is the first study to investigate the effect of stair-climbing on creative thinking. Our findings suggest that stair-climbing may be a useful strategy for enhancing divergent thinking in everyday life.