scholarly journals Physical exercise increases overall brain oscillatory activity but does not influence inhibitory control in young adults

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis F. Ciria ◽  
Pandelis Perakakis ◽  
Antonio Luque-Casado ◽  
Daniel Sanabria

AbstractExtant evidence suggests that acute exercise triggers a tonic power increase in the alpha frequency band at frontal locations, which has been linked to benefits in cognitive function. However, recent literature has questioned such a selective effect on a particular frequency band, indicating a rather overall power increase across the entire frequency spectrum. Moreover, the nature of task-evoked oscillatory brain activity associated to inhibitory control after exercising, and the duration of the exercise effect, are not yet clear. Here, we investigate for the first time steady state oscillatory brain activity during and following an acute bout of aerobic exercise at two different exercise intensities (moderate-to-high and light), by means of a data-driven cluster-based approach to describe the spatio-temporal distribution of exercise-induced effects on brain function without prior assumptions on any frequency range or site of interest. We also assess the transient oscillatory brain activity elicited by stimulus presentation, as well as behavioural performance, in two inhibitory control (flanker) tasks, one performed after a short delay following the physical exercise and another completed after a rest period of 15’ post-exercise to explore the time course of exercise-induced changes on brain function and cognitive performance. The results show that oscillatory brain activity increases during exercise compared to the resting state, and that this increase is higher during the moderate-to-high intensity exercise with respect to the light intensity exercise. In addition, our results show that the global pattern of increased oscillatory brain activity is not specific to any concrete surface localization in slow frequencies, while in faster frequencies this effect is located in parieto-occipital sites. Notably, the exercise-induced increase in oscillatory brain activity disappears immediately after the end of the exercise bout. Neither transient (event-related) oscillatory activity, nor behavioral performance during the flanker tasks following exercise showed significant between-intensity differences. The present findings help elucidate the effect of physical exercise on oscillatory brain activity and challenge previous research suggesting improved inhibitory control following moderate-to-high acute exercise.

2019 ◽  
Vol 240 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana P Pinto ◽  
Alisson L da Rocha ◽  
Eike B Kohama ◽  
Rafael C Gaspar ◽  
Fernando M Simabuco ◽  
...  

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and inflammation relationship occurs at different levels and is essential for the adequate homeostatic function of cellular systems, becoming harmful when chronically engaged. Intense physical exercise enhances serum levels of interleukin 6 (IL-6). In response to a chronic exhaustive physical exercise protocol, our research group verified an increase of the IL-6 concentration and ER stress proteins in extensor digitorium longus (EDL) and soleus. Based on these results, we hypothesized that IL-6-knockout mice would demonstrate a lower modulation in the ER stress proteins compared to the wild-type mice. To clarify the relationship between exercise-induced IL-6 increased and ER stress, we studied the effects of an acute exhaustive physical exercise protocol on the levels of ER stress proteins in the skeletal muscles of IL-6-knockout (KO) mice. The WT group displayed a higher exhaustion time compared to the IL-6 KO group. After 1 h of the acute exercise protocol, the serum levels of IL-6 and IL-10 were enhanced in the WT group. Independent of the experimental group, the CHOP and cleaved caspase 12/total caspase 12 ratio in EDL as well as ATF6 and CHOP in soleus were sensitive to the acute exercise protocol. Compared to the WT group, the oscillation patterns over time of BiP in EDL and soleus as well as of peIF2-alpha/eIF2-alpha ratio in soleus were attenuated for the IL-6 KO group. In conclusion, IL-6 seems to be related with the ER stress homeostasis, once knockout mice presented attenuation of BiP in EDL and soleus as well as of pEiF2-alpha/EiF2-alpha ratio in soleus after the acute exhaustive physical exercise protocol.


2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (5) ◽  
pp. e13326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis F. Ciria ◽  
Antonio Luque‐Casado ◽  
Daniel Sanabria ◽  
Darías Holgado ◽  
Plamen Ch. Ivanov ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Allen

AbstractDo brain oscillations limit the temporal dynamics of experience? This pre-registered study used the separation of auditory stimuli to track perceptual experience and related this to oscillatory activity using magnetoencephalography. The rates at which auditory stimuli could be individuated matched the rates of oscillatory brain activity. Stimuli also entrained brain activity at the frequencies at which they were presented and a progression of high frequency gamma band events appeared to predict successful separation. These findings support a generalised function for brain oscillations, across frequency bands, in the alignment of activity to delineate representations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (47) ◽  
pp. 29925-29936
Author(s):  
Martyna J. Grabowska ◽  
Rhiannon Jeans ◽  
James Steeves ◽  
Bruno van Swinderen

Object-based attention describes the brain’s capacity to prioritize one set of stimuli while ignoring others. Human research suggests that the binding of diverse stimuli into one attended percept requires phase-locked oscillatory activity in the brain. Even insects display oscillatory brain activity during visual attention tasks, but it is unclear if neural oscillations in insects are selectively correlated to different features of attended objects. We addressed this question by recording local field potentials in theDrosophilacentral complex, a brain structure involved in visual navigation and decision making. We found that attention selectively increased the neural gain of visual features associated with attended objects and that attention could be redirected to unattended objects by activation of a reward circuit. Attention was associated with increased beta (20- to 30-Hz) oscillations that selectively locked onto temporal features of the attended visual objects. Our results suggest a conserved function for the beta frequency range in regulating selective attention to salient visual features.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 2635
Author(s):  
Ana P. Pinto ◽  
Alisson L. da Rocha ◽  
Bruno B. Marafon ◽  
Rafael L. Rovina ◽  
Vitor R. Muñoz ◽  
...  

Although physical exercise-induced autophagy activation has been considered a therapeutic target to enhance tissue health and extend lifespan, the effects of different exercise models on autophagy in specific metabolic tissues are not completely understood. This descriptive investigation compared the acute effects of endurance (END), exhaustive (ET), strength (ST), and concurrent (CC) physical exercise protocols on markers of autophagy, genes, and proteins in the gastrocnemius muscle, heart, and liver of mice. The animals were euthanized immediately (0 h) and six hours (6 h) after the acute exercise for the measurement of glycogen levels, mRNA expression of Prkaa1, Ppargc1a, Mtor, Ulk1, Becn1, Atg5, Map1lc3b, Sqstm1, and protein levels of Beclin 1 and ATG5. The markers of autophagy were measured by quantifying the protein levels of LC3II and Sqstm1/p62 in response to three consecutive days of intraperitoneal injections of colchicine. In summary, for gastrocnemius muscle samples, the main alterations in mRNA expressions were observed after 6 h and for the ST group, and the markers of autophagy for the CC group were increased (i.e., LC3II and Sqstm1/p62). In the heart, the Beclin 1 and ATG5 levels were downregulated for the ET group. Regarding the markers of autophagy, the Sqstm1/p62 in the heart tissue was upregulated for the END and ST groups, highlighting the beneficial effects of these exercise models. The liver protein levels of ATG5 were downregulated for the ET group. After the colchicine treatment, the liver protein levels of Sqstm1/p62 were decreased for the END and ET groups compared to the CT, ST, and CC groups. These results could be related to diabetes and obesity development or liver dysfunction improvement, demanding further investigations.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Antonio Zarza ◽  
Daniel Sanabria ◽  
Pandelis Perakakis

The benefits of regular physical exercise do not only concern physical wellness, but also seem to influence cognitive function. Multiple pathways have been suggested to explain the potential impact of regular exercise on cognition, from cellular, molecular and structural adaptations, to behavioral and social consequences of exercising). In this review, we propose interoception as a potential factor involved in the relationship between cognition and physical exercise. We first define and describe interoception, its dimensions and properties, to then, summarize the current research regarding interoception and cognition. Third, we examine the bidirectional role existing between interoception and physical activity. Finally, we lay out the evidence that leads us to consider the reciprocal relationship between exercise, cognition and interoception.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuri G. Pavlov ◽  
Boris Kotchoubey

AbstractBackgroundThe study investigates oscillatory brain activity during working memory (WM) tasks. The tasks employed varied in two dimensions. First, they differed in complexity from average to highly demanding. Second, we used two types of tasks, which required either only retention of stimulus set or retention and manipulation of the content. We expected to reveal EEG correlates of temporary storage and central executive components of WM and to assess their contribution to individual differences.ResultsGenerally, as compared with the retention condition, manipulation of stimuli in WM was associated with distributed suppression of alpha1 activity and with the increase of the midline theta activity. Load and task dependent decrement of beta1 power was found during task performance. Beta2 power increased with the increasing WM load and did not significantly depend on the type of the task.At the level of individual differences, we found that the high performance (HP) group was characterized by higher alpha rhythm power. The HP group demonstrated task-related increment of theta power in the left anterior area and a gradual increase of theta power at midline area. In contrast, the low performance (LP) group exhibited a drop of theta power in the most challenging condition. HP group was also characterized by stronger desynchronization of beta1 rhythm over the left posterior area in the manipulation condition. In this condition, beta2 power increased in the HP group over anterior areas, but in the LP group over posterior areas.ConclusionsWM performance is accompanied by changes in EEG in a broad frequency range from theta to higher beta bands. The most pronounced differences in oscillatory activity between individuals with high and low WM performance can be observed in the most challenging WM task.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inbal Reuveni ◽  
Noa Herz ◽  
Omer Bonne ◽  
Tuvia Peri ◽  
Shaul Schreiber ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundIn posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the traumatic event is often re-experienced through vivid sensory fragments of the traumatic experience. Though the sensory phenomenology of traumatic memories is well established, neural indications for this qualitative experience are lacking. The current study aimed at monitoring the oscillatory brain activity of PTSD patients during directed and imaginal exposure to the traumatic memory using magnetoencephalography (MEG), in a paradigm resembling exposure therapy.MethodsBrain activity of healthy trauma-exposed controls and PTSD participants was measured with MEG as they listened to individualized trauma narratives as well as to a neutral narrative and as they imagined the narrative in detail. Source localization analysis on varied frequency bands was conducted in order to map neural generators of altered oscillatory activity.ResultsPTSD patients exhibited increased power of high-frequency bands over visual areas and increased delta and theta power over auditory areas in response to trauma recollection compared to neutral recollection, while controls did not show such differential activation. PTSD participants also showed abnormal modulation of lower frequencies in the medial prefrontal cortex.ConclusionsElicitation of traumatic memories results in a distinct neural pattern in PTSD patients compared to healthy trauma-exposed individuals. Investigating the oscillatory neural dynamics of PTSD patients can help us better understand the processes underlying trauma re-experiencing.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk Smit

The ENIGMA-EEG working group was established to enable large scale international collaborations among cohorts who investigate the genetics of brain function measured with electroencephalography (EEG). The collaboration resulted in the currently largest genome-wide association study of oscillatory brain activity in EEG recordings by meta-analyzing the results across five participating cohorts’ results. Our endeavor has resulted in the first genome-wide significant hits for oscillatory brain function, and significant genes that were previously associated with psychiatric disorders. Our results have provided insight into the influence that psychitaric liability genes have on the functioning brain. In this overview, we also highlight how we have tackled methodological issues surrounding genetic meta-analysis of EEG features, and identify possible sources of heterogeneity across cohorts, which could affect the results of our meta-analysis. We discuss the importance of harmonizing EEG signal processing, cleaning, and feature extraction. Finally, we explain our selection of EEG features to be investigated in our future studies, e.g. temporal dynamics of oscillations and the connectivity network based on synchronization of oscillations. We argue that these represent some of the most important characteristics of the functioning brain. We conclude that disentangling the genetics of EEG will elucidate effects that genes have on brain function, as well as pathways from genes to neurological and psychiatric disorders.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis F. Ciria ◽  
Antonio Luque-Casado ◽  
Daniel Sanabria ◽  
Darias Holgado ◽  
Plamen Ch. Ivanov ◽  
...  

AbstractThe physiological changes that occur in the main body systems and organs during physical exercise are well described in the literature. Despite the key role of brain in processing afferent and efferent information from organ systems to coordinate and optimize their functioning, little is known about how the brain works during exercise. The present study investigated tonic and transient oscillatory brain activity during a single bout of aerobic exercise. Twenty young males (19-32 years old) were recruited for two experimental sessions on separate days. Electroencephalographic (EEG) activity was recorded during a session of cycling at 80% (moderate-to-high intensity) of VO2max (maximum aerobic capacity) while performing an oddball task where participants had to detect infrequent targets presented among frequent non-targets. This was compared to a (baseline) light intensity session (30% VO2max). The light intensity session was included to control for any potential effect of dual-tasking (i.e., pedaling and performing the oddball task). A warm-up and cool down periods were completed before and after exercise, respectively. A cluster-based nonparametric permutations test showed an increase in power across the entire frequency spectrum during the moderate-to-high intensity exercise, with respect to light intensity. Further, we found that the more salient target lead to lower increase in (stimulus-evoked) theta power in the 80% VO2max with respect to the light intensity condition. On the contrary, higher decrease alpha and lower beta power was found for standard trials in the moderate-to-high exercise condition than in the light exercise condition. The present study unveils, for the first time, a complex brain activity pattern during acute exercise (at 80% of maximum aerobic capacity). These findings might help to elucidate the nature of changes that occur in the brain during physical exertion.


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