Effects of Acute High-Intensity Aerobic Exercise on Cognition: the Potential Roles of Motivation and Perceived Energy Levels

High-intensity exercise is theoretically proposed to enhance hippocampal-related cognition and impair prefrontal cortex (PFC)-related cognition when assessed immediately following exercise. However, empirical evidence has not consistently supported these effects. This study was designed to address this discrepancy between theoretical predictions and empirical findings while accounting for the potential influences of psychological factors (i.e., motivation, perceived energy availability, and perceived energy cost) on cognitive outcomes (i.e., n-back and mnemonic similarity tasks) immediately following high-intensity exercise. Fifty-five young healthy adults participated in a within-subject experiment comprising four separate visits. Each visit involved a 20-minute session of either high-intensity exercise or standing on a treadmill (no exercise), followed by tasks assessing either PFC- or hippocampal-related cognition. Subsequently, a 20-minute delayed cognitive assessment for the same cognitive domain was conducted to evaluate both immediate and delayed cognitive performance. Assessments of each psychological construct were conducted after the exercise/rest condition and before the initial cognitive task. Results indicated that acute high-intensity exercise did not significantly influence performance on either PFC- or hippocampal-related cognitive task. However, additional analyses revealed that higher task-related motivation was positively associated with PFC-related performance immediately following exercise. Although participants reported greater perceived mental energy after exercise than rest, this change was not accompanied by cognitive improvements. These findings suggest that psychological factors, particularly state motivation, may play a limited yet meaningful role in shaping cognitive responses to acute high-intensity exercise.