Compositional Structure of 24-Hour Movement Behaviors Moderates Neurocognitive Responses to Acute Aerobic Exercise in Healthy Adults: A Multimodal Investigation

BACKGROUND: Acute aerobic exercise can transiently enhance executive function (EF) by modulating prefrontal neural activity, yet substantial inter-individual variability in these effects suggests differences in neuroplasticity and responsiveness. However, it remains unclear how habitual 24-hour movement behavior composition, encompassing sleep, sedentary behavior (SB), and light and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (LPA and MVPA) levels, may shape this baseline neurocognitive state, thereby influencing responsiveness to an acute exercise stimulus. METHODS: Sixty-eight healthy young adults (26.90 ± 3.44 years) completed a single 10-min bout of moderate-intensity cycling. Response inhibition and working memory were assessed using computerized Stroop and N-back tasks. Prefrontal cortex activation and resting-state functional connectivity were measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), and corticospinal excitability and intracortical inhibition were assessed using single- and paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), before and after exercise. Time spent in sleep, SB, LPA, and MVPA was recorded over 7 consecutive days using wrist-worn accelerometers. Two analytic approaches were applied: (1) latent profile analysis to classify participants into movement behavior profiles and examine pre-post changes using linear mixed-effects models, and (2) continuous compositional regression using isometric log-ratio transformation to examine associations between 24-hour movement composition and neurocognitive outcomes, adjusting for age, sex, and BMI. RESULTS: Habitual movement behavior composition was associated with baseline EF. Participants with more active movement profiles (higher MVPA and lower SB) demonstrated superior EF at baseline, particularly under higher cognitive demand (incongruent Stroop and 2-back tasks). Acute aerobic exercise was associated with improvements in executive performance and prefrontal neurophysiology across all behavioral profiles, with no significant time × group interactions. Task-evoked increases in prefrontal activation and profile-specific alterations in resting-state functional connectivity were observed following exercise. Continuous compositional analyses indicated that higher relative proportions of LPA and MVPA were associated with better working memory performance, whereas higher SB was associated with reduced prefrontal functional connectivity. No significant group-level changes in corticospinal excitability or intracortical inhibition were detected. CONCLUSIONS: Habitual 24-hour movement behavior composition was primarily associated with baseline EF and prefrontal network organization, whereas acute neurocognitive responses to moderate-intensity exercise were largely preserved across behavioral compositions. These findings underscore the importance of considering daily movement context when interpreting individual differences in exercise-related neurocognitive responses.