Self-reported free-living physical activity and executive control in young adults

To what extent do our free-living physical activity (PA) levels impact our cognition? For example, if we engage in more intense PA from one week to the next, does this have a corresponding influence on cognitive performance? Across three studies, young adults completed a validated self-report questionnaire (the International Physical Activity Questionnaire, or IPAQ) assessing their involvement in PA at low, moderate, and vigorous intensities over the past week, as well as computer-based measures of executive control and attentional function. In Experiment 1 we found no significant effect of PA intensity on any of our measures of executive control. In a pair of follow-up control studies we examined whether these null findings could be attributed to testing fatigue and task complexity (Experiment 2), or low cognitive demands of the task (Experiment 3). Despite simplifying the task, reducing testing time, and increasing the cognitive load of the task, we still found no significant impact of weekly PA intensity on our measures of executive control. Taken together, our results show that self-reported PA over the past week, at any intensity level, does not appear to have a substantive impact on executive control.