Sport, Bewegung, Training und das zentrale Nervensystem

<jats:p><jats:italic><jats:bold>Purpose</jats:bold>:</jats:italic> The aim of this study was to examine whether cortical activity changes during exercise with increasing cognitive demands in preadolescent children. <jats:italic><jats:bold>Method</jats:bold>:</jats:italic> Twenty healthy children (8.75 [0.91] y) performed one movement game, which was conducted with lower and higher cognitive demands. During a baseline measurement and both exercise conditions, cortical activity was recorded using a 64-channel electroencephalographic system, and heart rate was assessed. Ratings of perceived excertion and perceived cognitive engagement were examined after each condition. To analyze power spectral density in the theta, alpha-1, and alpha-2 frequency bands, an adaptive mixture independent component analysis was used to determine the spatiotemporal sources of cortical activity, and brain components were clustered to identify spatial clusters. <jats:italic><jats:bold>Results</jats:bold>:</jats:italic> One-way repeated-measures analyses of variance revealed significant main effects for condition on theta in the prefrontal cluster, on alpha-1 in the prefrontal, central, bilateral motor, bilateral parieto-occipital, and occipital clusters, and on alpha-2 in the left motor, central, and left parieto-occipital clusters. Compared with the lower cognitive demand exercise, cortical activity was significantly higher in theta power in the prefrontal cluster and in alpha-1 power in the occipital cluster during the higher cognitive demand exercise. <jats:italic><jats:bold>Conclusion</jats:bold>:</jats:italic> The present study shows that exercise complexity seems to influence cortical processing as it increased with increasing cognitive demands.</jats:p>

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Coordinative challenging exercises in changing environments referred to as open-skill exercises seem to be beneficial on cognitive function. Although electroencephalographic research allows to investigate changes in cortical processing during movement, information about cortical dynamics during open-skill exercise is lacking. Therefore, the present study examines frontal brain activation during table tennis as an open-skill exercise compared to cycling exercise and a cognitive task. 21 healthy young adults conducted three blocks of table tennis, cycling and n-back task. Throughout the experiment, cortical activity was measured using 64-channel EEG system connected to a wireless amplifier. Cortical activity was analyzed calculating theta power (4–7.5 Hz) in frontocentral clusters revealed from independent component analysis. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to identify within subject differences between conditions (table tennis, cycling, n-back; <jats:italic>p</jats:italic> &lt; .05). ANOVA revealed main-effects of condition on theta power in frontal (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> &lt; .01, <jats:italic>η</jats:italic><jats:sub>p</jats:sub><jats:sup>2</jats:sup> = 0.35) and frontocentral (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> &lt; .01, <jats:italic>η</jats:italic><jats:sub>p</jats:sub><jats:sup>2</jats:sup> = 0.39) brain areas. Post-hoc tests revealed increased theta power in table tennis compared to cycling in frontal brain areas (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> &lt; .05, <jats:italic>d</jats:italic> = 1.42). In frontocentral brain areas, theta power was significant higher in table tennis compared to cycling (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> &lt; .01, <jats:italic>d</jats:italic> = 1.03) and table tennis compared to the cognitive task (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> &lt; .01, <jats:italic>d</jats:italic> = 1.06). Increases in theta power during continuous table tennis may reflect the increased demands in perception and processing of environmental stimuli during open-skill exercise. This study provides important insights that support the beneficial effect of open-skill exercise on brain function and suggest that using open-skill exercise may serve as an intervention to induce activation of the frontal cortex.</jats:p>