The influence of exercise and physical fitness status on attention: a systematic review

ABSTRACT

Background: Exercise helps many aspects of cognition, but at this time no review has summarized the literature on the association of exercise and physical fitness with attention. Method: A systematic search was conducted on PubMed, ISI Web of Knowledge, and Scopus databases. After inclusion criteria assessment, a final pool of 44 articles was included. A number of behavioral and neurophysiological indices of attention were examined. Results: The majority of studies showed an increase in performance of attention. Acute exercise results in greater enhancement of attention in those who are active. There was an association of aerobic fitness and attention in the young and old, but not in young adults. Aerobic exercise training interventions generally resulted in positive changes, while some resistance training studies detected no evidence of an effect. Not all forms of exercise were effective. Shorter interventions were inferior with respect to longer ones. Most studies were rated with a moderate methodological quality. Conclusion: There is an association of aerobic exercise (acute and chronic) and aerobic fitness with attention. Future research should determine the dose and mechanisms by which different forms of physical activity and exercise may influence the development of different components of attention along the lifespan.

KEYWORDS:

• Cognitive function
• physical training
• selective attention
• sustained attention
• divided attention

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.