Exergaming Improves Executive Functions in Patients With Metabolic Syndrome: Randomized Controlled Trial

Background Recent studies indicate that participation in exercise-related games can improve executive function, attention processing, and visuospatial skills. Objective The aim of this study was to investigate whether exercise via exergaming (EXG) can improve executive function in patients with metabolic syndrome (MetS). Methods A total of 22 MetS patients were recruited and randomly assigned to an EXG group or a treadmill exercise (TE) group. The reaction time (RT) and electrophysiological signals from the frontal (Fz), central (Cz), and parietal (Pz) cortices were collected during a Stroop task after 12 weeks of exercise. Results During the Stroop congruence (facilitation) judgment task, both the EXG and TE groups showed significantly faster RT after 12 weeks of exercise training. For N200 amplitude, the EXG group demonstrated significantly increased electrophysiological signals from the Fz and Cz cortices. These changes were significantly larger in the EXG group than in the TE group. Separately, for the P300 amplitude, the EXG groups presented significantly increased electrophysiological signals from the Fz, Cz, and Pz cortices, whereas the TE group showed significantly increased electrophysiological signals from the Cz and Pz cortices only. During the Stroop incongruence (interference) judgment task, both the EXG and TE groups showed significantly faster RT. For P300 amplitude, the EXG group had significantly increased electrophysiological signals from the Fz and Cz cortices only, whereas the TE group had significantly increased electrophysiological signals from the Fz, Cz, and Pz cortices. Conclusions EXG improves executive function in patients with MetS as much as normal aerobic exercise does. In particular, a unique benefit of EXG beyond increased aerobic capacity is the improved selective attention among cognitive functions. Thus, EXG could be recommended to someone who needs to improve their brain responses of concentration and judgment as well as physical fitness. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04015583; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04015583

Exergaming Improves Executive Functions in Patients with Metabolic Syndrome (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Recent studies indicate that exercise-related games can improve executive function, attention processing, and visuospatial skills. OBJECTIVE This study investigates whether exercise with exergame can improve the executive function in patients with metabolic syndrome (MetS). METHODS Twenty-two MetS patients were recruited and randomly assigned to the exergame group (EXG) and treadmill group. The reaction time (RT) and electrophysiological signal from the frontal (Fz), central (Cz), and parietal (Pz) cortex were collected during a Stroop task after 12 weeks’ exercise. RESULTS During the Stroop congruence (facilitation) judgment task, both EXG and TEG showed significantly faster RT after 12 weeks of exercise training. For N200 amplitude, EXG significantly increased on Fz and Cz. These changes were significantly larger in EXG than TEG. For P300 amplitude, EXG significantly increased on Fz, Cz, and Pz, while TEG significantly increased on Cz and Pz only. During the Stroop incongruence (interference) judgment task, both EXG and TEG showed significantly faster RT. For P300 amplitude, EXG significantly increased on Fz and Cz only, while TEG significantly increased on Fz, Cz, and Pz. CONCLUSIONS Exergaming improves executive function in patients with MetS as much as normal aerobic exercise. Particularly, the unique benefit of the exergame beyond increased aerobic capacity is the improvement of selective attention among cognitive functions. Thus, exergaming could be recommended to someone who needs to improve brain responses of concentration and judgment as well as physical fitness.

Examination Stress Results in Attentional Bias and Altered Neural Reactivity in Test-Anxious Individuals

Examination stress occurs so frequently in the lives of students. The neural mechanisms of attentional bias induced by examination stress in test-anxious individuals remain unclear. Accordingly, we investigated the attentional bias toward test-related threatening words in selected high and low test-anxious participants under the stress of final examinations by using an event-related potential (ERP) technique. A classic dot-probe paradigm was adopted with a test-related/test-unrelated threatening word and a neutral word pair as cues. Results showed attention bias and enhanced N200 amplitude toward test-related threat in high test-anxious individuals, whereas avoidance of test-related threat and decreased N200 amplitude were shown in low test-anxious individuals. Additionally, ERP data revealed the relatively enhanced LPP amplitude in low test-anxious participants compared with that in high test-anxious participants. No attentional bias toward test-unrelated threat was found. In conclusion, examination stress resulted in attentional bias and functional perturbations of a brain circuitry that reacted rapidly to test-related threat in high test-anxious individuals.

An Analysis of the Effects of Smartphone Push Notifications on Task Performance with regard to Smartphone Overuse Using ERP

Smartphones are used ubiquitously worldwide and are essential tools in modern society. However, smartphone overuse is an emerging social issue, and limited studies have objectively assessed this matter. The majority of previous studies have included surveys or behavioral observation studies. Since a previous study demonstrated an association between increased push notifications and smartphone overuse, we investigated the effects of push notifications on task performance. We detected changes in brainwaves generated by smartphone push notifications using the N200 and P300 components of event-related potential (ERP) to investigate both concentration and cognitive ability. ERP assessment indicated that, in both risk and nonrisk groups, the lowest N200 amplitude and the longest latency during task performance were found when push notifications were delivered. Compared to the nonrisk group, the risk group demonstrated lower P300 amplitudes and longer latencies. In addition, the risk group featured a higher rate of error in the Go-Nogo task, due to the negative influence of smartphone push notifications on performance in both risk and nonrisk groups. Furthermore, push notifications affected subsequent performance in the risk group.

Expectancy of Stress-Reducing Aromatherapy Effect and Performance on a Stress-Sensitive Cognitive Task

Objective. Stress-reducing therapies help maintain cognitive performance during stress. Aromatherapy is popular for stress reduction, but its effectiveness and mechanism are unclear. This study examined stress-reducing effects of aromatherapy on cognitive function using the go/no-go (GNG) task performance and event related potentials (ERP) components sensitive to stress. The study also assessed the importance of expectancy in aromatherapy actions.Methods. 81 adults were randomized to 3 aroma groups (active experimental, detectable, and undetectable placebo) and 2 prime subgroups (prime suggesting stress-reducing aroma effects or no-prime). GNG performance, ERPs, subjective expected aroma effects, and stress ratings were assessed at baseline and poststress.Results. No specific aroma effects on stress or cognition were observed. However, regardless of experienced aroma, people receiving a prime displayed faster poststress median reaction times than those receiving no prime. A significant interaction for N200 amplitude indicated divergent ERP patterns between baseline and poststress for go and no-go stimuli depending on the prime subgroup. Furthermore, trends for beneficial prime effects were shown on poststress no-go N200/P300 latencies and N200 amplitude.Conclusion. While there were no aroma-specific effects on stress or cognition, these results highlight the role of expectancy for poststress response inhibition and attention.

Negative Priming in a Numerical Piaget-like Task as Evidenced by ERP

Inhibition is a key executive function in adults and children for the acquisition and expression of cognitive abilities. Using event-related potentials in a priming adaptation of a Piaget-like numerical task taken from developmental psychology, we report a negative priming effect in adults measured just after the cognitive inhibition of a misleading strategy, the visuospatial length-equals-number bias. This effect was determined in the N200 information processing stage through increased N200 amplitude. We show here that for accuracy in numerical quantification, the adult brain still had to control the childlike cognition biases that are stored in a kind of “developmental memory.”