Effect of habitual physical activity on motor performance and prefrontal cortex activity during implicit motor learning

Acute bouts of exercise have been shown to improve motor learning. However, whether these benefits can be observed from habitual physical activity (PA) levels remains unclear and has important implications around PA guidelines to promote motor learning across the lifespan. This study investigated th...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:PeerJ (San Francisco, CA) CA), 2024-11, Vol.12, p.e18217, Article e18217
Hauptverfasser: Tan, Fu-Miao, Teo, Wei-Peng, Leuk, Jessie Siew-Pin, Goodwill, Alicia M
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:Volltext
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Acute bouts of exercise have been shown to improve motor learning. However, whether these benefits can be observed from habitual physical activity (PA) levels remains unclear and has important implications around PA guidelines to promote motor learning across the lifespan. This study investigated the effect of habitual PA levels on brain activity within the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) during procedural motor skill acquisition. Twenty-six right-handed healthy young adults had physical activity levels quantified by calculating the metabolic equivalent of task (METs) in minutes per week, derived from the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) over the DLPFC was recorded to measure neural activation during a serial reaction time task (SRTT). Behavioural indicators of procedural motor skill acquisition were quantified as reaction time and accuracy of correct trials during the SRTT. DLPFC activation was characterised as task-related changes in oxyhaemoglobin (∆[HbO ]). Findings showed that higher PA levels were associated with improvements in reaction time during procedural motor skill acquisition ( = 0.03). However, no significant effects of PA levels on accuracy or ∆[HbO ] during procedural motor skill acquisition were observed. These findings show that while habitual PA may promote motor performance in young adults, this is not reflected by changes in the DLPFC area of the brain.
ISSN:2167-8359
2167-8359
DOI:10.7717/peerj.18217