Treadmill walking during vocabulary encoding improves verbal long-term memory

  • Moderate physical activity improves various cognitive functions, particularly when it is applied simultaneously to the cognitive task. In two psychoneuroendocrinological within-subject experiments, we investigated whether very low-intensity motor activity, i.e. walking, during foreign-language vocabulary encoding improves subsequent recall compared to encoding during physical rest. Furthermore, we examined the kinetics of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in serum and salivary cortisol. Previous research has associated both substances with memory performance.In both experiments, subjects performed better when they were motorically active during encoding compared to being sedentary. BDNF in serum was unrelated to memory performance. In contrast we found a positive correlation between salivary cortisol concentration and the number of correctly recalled items. In summary, even very light physical activity during encoding is beneficial for subsequent recall.

Download full text files

Export metadata

Additional Services

Share in Twitter Search Google Scholar
Metadaten
Author:Maren Schmidt-KassowORCiDGND, Nadine Zink, Julia Mock, Christian ThielGND, Lutz VogtGND, Cornelius Benjamin AbelGND, Jochen KaiserORCiDGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-347158
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1186/1744-9081-10-24
ISSN:1744-9081
Pubmed Id:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25015595
Parent Title (English):Behavioral and brain functions
Publisher:BioMed Central
Place of publication:London
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2014/07/12
Date of first Publication:2014/07/12
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2014/09/19
Volume:10
Issue:24
Page Number:9
HeBIS-PPN:366220063
Institutes:Psychologie und Sportwissenschaften / Sportwissenschaften
Medizin / Medizin
Dewey Decimal Classification:6 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / 61 Medizin und Gesundheit / 610 Medizin und Gesundheit
Sammlungen:Universitätspublikationen
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - Namensnennung 2.0