Cognitive-motor entrainment enhances long-term episodic memory retention

Unlike dual-task outcomes, cognitive-motor entrainment has been shown to enhance attentional functionality and auditory long-term memory retention. The present experiments extend this work by evaluating the effects of cognitive-motor entrainment on visual long-term memory retention and variability in motor performance using a repeated-measures design. In experiment 1, participants studied unique 40-word lists under three different learning conditions. When participants learned words in a cognitive-motor entrained condition (words were presented on a screen every fourth stride), they retained more information during free-recall long-term memory assessments compared to a stationary control (p < 0.05). In experiment 2, the same psychological test was administered, but participants cycled on a stationary ergometer. Similarly, words studied under the entrained dual-task condition (where word presentation was matched to cycling patterns) were more easily recalled during long-term memory testing than the word lists studied under the traditional dual-task or control condition. Neither experiment found conditional differences concerning recognition memory (accuracy or confidence) or motor performance quality (gait parameters or cycling cadence). A secondary data analysis revealed no significant differences in long-term memory retention between each experiment's unique physical activity modalities. Together, these experimental findings suggest that entraining oscillatory patterns of motor production with cognitive stimuli presentation may enhance long-term memory retention and prevent dual-task costs regardless of the mode of physical activity performed. Further research is needed to clarify the exact mechanisms underlying these relationships and to ensure the measured effects are not attributable to the predictability or rhythmicity of stimulus presentation rather than entrainment.