Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Cognitive Processing29 Jul 2026

Effects of acute cardiovascular exercise and coordinative motor activity on verbal functions and attention

Mira Fischer^1,2
Veit S. Kraft³
Joachim Hermsdörfer³

¹Department of Neurology, LMU University Hospital, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
²German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Munich, Germany
³Chair of Human Movement Science, TUM School of Medicine and Health, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

Abstract

Language is a cognitive domain essential for communication; however, its responsiveness to acute physical exercise or activity is unexplored. This quasi-randomized trial examined the effects of different intervention modalities on verbal functions and attention. Ninety-eight participants were assigned to high-intensity interval training (HIIT), coordinatively demanding motor activity (COOR), or a sedentary control group (CG). A pre–post design with a 24-hour follow-up assessed semantic (VFsem) and category-switching verbal fluency (VFsw), verbal learning, and attention. No group × time effects were observed for verbal learning encoding (p = .258); however, HIIT showed a steeper learning slope compared to CG (p = .044). Following an interference list, proactive interference was unaffected (p = .428), whereas retroactive interference differed significantly between groups (p = .019), with CG showing lower susceptibility than both intervention groups. No group differences were found for consolidation after 20 min or 24 h (p’s ≥ .271). Semantic verbal fluency improved significantly following HIIT relative to CG (p = .029), with no significant effects in VFsw (p = .221) or attention (p = .187). We conclude an intensity-dependent pattern following the interventions, manifesting as enhanced semantic lexical retrieval and an exploratory finding of a steeper encoding following HIIT, compared to CG, with COOR in between, accompanied by an increased susceptibility to retroactive interference.

Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-026-01380-2.

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Cite

BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@article{fischer2026effects,
  title = {{Effects of acute cardiovascular exercise and coordinative motor activity on verbal functions and attention}},
  author = {Mira Fischer and Veit S. Kraft and Joachim Hermsdörfer},
  journal = {Cognitive Processing},
  year = {2026},
  month = jul,
  doi = {10.1007/s10339-026-01380-2},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-026-01380-2},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

RIS

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Effects of acute cardiovascular exercise and coordinative motor activity on verbal functions and attention
AU  - Mira Fischer
AU  - Veit S. Kraft
AU  - Joachim Hermsdörfer
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/07/29
JO  - Cognitive Processing
DO  - 10.1007/s10339-026-01380-2
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-026-01380-2
AB  - Language is a cognitive domain essential for communication; however, its responsiveness to acute physical exercise or activity is unexplored. This quasi-randomized trial examined the effects of different intervention modalities on verbal functions and attention. Ninety-eight participants were assigned to high-intensity interval training (HIIT), coordinatively demanding motor activity (COOR), or a sedentary control group (CG). A pre–post design with a 24-hour follow-up assessed semantic (VFsem) and category-switching verbal fluency (VFsw), verbal learning, and attention. No group × time effects were observed for verbal learning encoding (p = .258); however, HIIT showed a steeper learning slope compared to CG (p = .044). Following an interference list, proactive interference was unaffected (p = .428), whereas retroactive interference differed significantly between groups (p = .019), with CG showing lower susceptibility than both intervention groups. No group differences were found for consolidation after 20 min or 24 h (p’s ≥ .271). Semantic verbal fluency improved significantly following HIIT relative to CG (p = .029), with no significant effects in VFsw (p = .221) or attention (p = .187). We conclude an intensity-dependent pattern following the interventions, manifesting as enhanced semantic lexical retrieval and an exploratory finding of a steeper encoding following HIIT, compared to CG, with COOR in between, accompanied by an increased susceptibility to retroactive interference.  Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-026-01380-2.
SN  - 1612-4782
SN  - 1612-4790
ER  -

Abstract

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