The Effect of Different Intensities of Aerobic Physical Exercise on the ‎Performance of Visual Choice Reaction Time and Stroop Test

The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in implicit and explicit cognitive processes during and after different intensities of aerobic physical exercise based on Transient Hypofrontality Theory. 39 male subjects with an average level of physical activity (age: M = 20.97± 0.14; Vo2 max: M = 50.25± 6.92 ml/kg/min) were divided randomly to three groups of thirteen based on the intensity of aerobic physical exercise: high intensity group (first group), moderate intensity group (second group), and low intensity group (third group). Magnetic bike was used for aerobic physical activity and heart rate remote control was used to control the intensity of activity. Implicit cognitive process (Visual choice reaction time) and explicit cognitive process (Stroop) tests were performed in four times: before and during the activity, 1 minutes and 15 minutes after the cessation of the activity. Results of the repeated measure ANOVA and inter-group factor showed that the effects of factors including time, group and interaction were significant on the implicit cognitive test. As for the explicit cognitive test, the major effect of time, interaction and group was significant. Results of this study showed that transient hypofrontality occurred when the intensity of aerobic physical exercise was high.