Prior research has evaluated the effects of acute exercise on episodic memory function. These studies have, on occasion, demonstrated that acute exercise may enhance both short- and long-term memory. It is uncertain as to whether the acute exercise improvements in long-term memory are a result of acute exercise attenuating declines in long-term memory, or rather, are driven by the enhancement effects of acute exercise on short-term memory. The present empirical study evaluates whether the decline from short- to long-term is influenced by acute exercise. This relationship is plausible as exercise has been shown to activate neurophysiological pathways (e.g., RAC1) that are involved in the mechanisms of forgetting.
To evaluate the effects of acute exercise on forgetting, we used data from 12 of our laboratory's prior experiments (N = 538). Across these 12 experiments, acute exercise ranged from 10 to 15 mins in duration (moderate-to-vigorous intensity). Episodic memory was assessed from word-list or paragraph-based assessments. Short-term memory was assessed immediately after encoding, with long-term memory assessed approximately 20-min later. Forgetting was calculated as the difference in short- and long-term memory performance.
Acute exercise (vs. seated control) was not associated with an attenuated forgetting effect (d = 0.10; 95% CI: −0.04, 0.25, P = 0.17). We observed no evidence of a significant moderation effect (Q = 6.16, df = 17, P = 0.17, I2 = 0.00) for any of the evaluated parameters, including study design, exercise intensity and delay period.
Across our 12 experimental studies, acute exercise was not associated with an attenuated forgetting effect. We discuss these implications for future research that evaluates the effects of acute exercise on long-term memory function.
Loprinzi PD, Frith E, Edwards MK, Sng E, Ashpole N. The effects of exercise on memory function among young to middle-aged adults: systematic review and recommendations for future research. Am J Health Promot 2018; 32(3): 691–704.
Roediger HL III, Weinstein Y, Agarwal PK. Forgetting: preliminary considerations. In: Forgetting. New York, NY, US: Psychology Press; 2010. p. 1–22.
Davis RL, Zhong Y. The biology of forgetting-a perspective. Neuron 2017; 95(3): 490–503.
Frankland PW, Josselyn SA, Kohler S. The neurobiological foundation of memory retrieval. Nat Neurosci 2019; 22(10): 1576–85.
Kandel ER, Dudai Y, Mayford MR. The molecular and systems biology of memory. Cell 2014; 157(1): 163–86.
Kitamura T, Ogawa SK, Roy DS, Okuyama T, Morrissey MD, Smith LM, et al.. Engrams and circuits crucial for systems consolidation of a memory. Science 2017; 356(6333): 73–8.
Medina JH. Neural, cellular and molecular mechanisms of active forgetting. Front Syst Neurosci 2018; 12: 3–3.
Ferris LT, Williams JS, Shen CL. The effect of acute exercise on serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels and cognitive function. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2007; 39(4): 728–34.
Park JK, Lee SJ, Kim TW. Treadmill exercise enhances NMDA receptor expression in schizophrenia mice. J Exerc Rehabil 2014; 10(1): 15–21.
Vaynman S, Ying Z, Gomez-Pinilla F. The select action of hippocampal calcium calmodulin protein kinase II in mediating exercise-enhanced cognitive function. Neuroscience 2007; 144(3): 825–33.
Heasman SJ Mammalian Rho GTPases: new insights into their functions from in vivo studies. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 2008; 9: 690–701.
Tejada-Simon MV. Modulation of actin dynamics by Rac1 to target cognitive function. J Neurochem 2015; 133(6): 767–79.
Dong T, He J, Wang S, Wang L, Cheng Y, Zhong Y. Inability to activate Rac1-dependent forgetting contributes to behavioral inflexibility in mutants of multiple autism-risk genes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2016; 113(27): 7644–9.
Shuai Y, Lu B, Hu Y, Wang L, Sun K, Zhong Y. Forgetting is regulated through rac activity in drosophila. Cell 2010; 140(4): 579–89.
Jiang L, Mao R, Zhou Q, Yang Y, Cao J, Ding Y, et al.. Inhibition of Rac1 activity in the hippocampus impairs the forgetting of contextual fear memory. Mol Neurobiol 2016; 53(2): 1247–53.
Liu Y, Du S, Lv L, Lei B, Shi W, Tang Y, et al.. Hippocampal activation of Rac1 regulates the forgetting of object recognition memory. Curr Biol 2016; 26(17): 2351–7.
Li Y, Zhao L, Gu B, Cai J, Lv Y, Yu L. Aerobic exercise regulates Rho/cofilin pathways to rescue synaptic loss in aged rats. PLoS One 2017; 12(2): e0171491.
Loprinzi PD, Frith E, Edwards MK, Sng E, Ashpole N. The effects of exercise on memory function among young to middle-aged adults: systematic review and recommendations for future research. American Journal of Health Promotion 2017; 32(3): 691–704.
Loprinzi P. The effects of exercise on long-term potentiation: a candidate mechanism of the exercise-memory relationship. OBM Neurobiol 2019; 3: 1–1.
Edwards MK, Blaha MJ, Loprinzi PD. Influence of sedentary behavior, physical activity, and cardiorespiratory fitness on the atherogenic index of plasma. J Clin Lipidol 2017; 11(1): 119–25.
Loprinzi PD, Frith E. A brief primer on the mediational role of BDNF in the exercise-memory link. Clin Physiol Funct Imaging 2019; 39(1): 9–14.
Loprinzi PD, Ponce P, Frith E. Hypothesized mechanisms through which acute exercise influences episodic memory. Physiol Int 2018; 105(4): 285–97.
Loprinzi PD. Forgetting may be useful, and exercise may help accentuate forgetting. J Cogn Behav Psychother Res 2019; 8(2): 128–30.
Cumming G. The new statistics: why and how. Psychol Sci 2013; 25(1): 7–29.
Garber CE. American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Quality and quantity of exercise for developing and maintaining cardiorespiratory, musculoskeletal and neuromuscular fitness in apparently healthy adults: Guidance for prescribing exercise. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2011; 43(7): 1334–59.
Farris A, Loprinzi PD. Experimental investigation of the effects of acute exercise on real-world ecological memory. J Sci Sport Exerc 2019; 1(1): 88–93.
Haynes JT, Frith E, Sng E, Loprinzi PD. Experimental effects of acute exercise on episodic memory function: considerations for the timing of exercise. Psychol Rep 2018; 122(5): 1744–54.
Johnson L, Loprinzi PD. The effects of acute exercise on episodic memory function among young university students: moderation considerations by biological sex. Health Promot Perspect 2019; 9(2): 99–104.
Austin M, Loprinzi PD. Acute exercise and mindfulness meditation on learning and memory: randomized controlled intervention. Health Promot Perspect 2019; 9(4): 314.
Ferguson L, Loprinzi P. Experimental effects of acute moderate-intensity exercise on prioritized memory. J Neurobehav Sci 2019: 1.
Wade B, Loprinzi PD. The experimental effects of acute exercise on long-term emotional memory. J Clin Med 2018; 7(12).
Yanes D, Loprinzi PD. Experimental effects of acute exercise on iconic memory, short-term episodic, and long-term episodic memory. J Clin Med 2018; 7(6).
Siddiqui A, Loprinzi PD. Experimental investigation of the time course effects of acute exercise on false episodic memory. J Clin Med 2018; 7(7).
Loprinzi PD, Harris F, McRaney K, Chism M, Deming R, Jones T, et al.. Effects of Acute exercise and learning strategy implementation on memory function. Medicina (Kaunas) 2019; 55(9).
Blough J, Loprinzi DP. Experimental manipulation of psychological control scenarios: implications for exercise and memory research. Psych 2019; 1(1).
Frith E, Sng E, Loprinzi PD. Randomized controlled trial evaluating the temporal effects of high-intensity exercise on learning, short-term and long-term memory, and prospective memory. Eur J Neurosci 2017; 46(10): 2557–64.
Sng E, Frith E, Loprinzi PD. Temporal effects of acute walking exercise on learning and memory function. Am J Health Promot 2018; 32(7): 1518–25.
Roig M, Nordbrandt S, Geertsen SS, Nielsen JB. The effects of cardiovascular exercise on human memory: a review with meta-analysis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2013; 37(8): 1645–66.
Pace ME, Loprinzi PD. High-intensity acute exercise and directed forgetting on memory function. Medicina (Kaunas) 2019; 55(8).
Ferguson L, Cantrelle J, Loprinzi P. Experimental effects of exercise on forgetting. OBM Integr Complement Med 2018; 3: 1–1.
Cantrelle J, Loprinzi P. Exercise and retrieval-induced forgetting. Psych 2019; 1(1).
Loprinzi PD, Blough J, Crawford L, Ryu S, Zou L, Li H. The temporal effects of acute exercise on episodic memory function: Systematic review with meta-analysis. Brain Sci 2019; 9(4): 87.