Investigate the Effect of Aerobic Activity with and without Cognitive Load on Alerting Network of Attention

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of aerobic activity with and without cognitive load on alerting network of attention. The research method was semi-experimental, with two experimental groups and one control group. For this purpose, 30 sedentary students with an average age of 22.63±1.92 years were selected by purposive sampling and assigned to three groups of 10. The experimental groups practiced specific training program for 16 sessions, but the control group didn’t receive any intervention. The participants before and after the training program were assessment by Attention Networks Test (ANT). For data analysis, the Univariate Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) method was used. The results showed that there is no a significant difference between experimental groups and control group in alerting network. According to the results, it seems that effects of exercise on cognition depend on the nature of the cognitive functions and its brain substrates.