Aerobic Exercise with Superimposed Virtual Reality Improves Cognitive Flexibility and Selective Attention in Young Males

The literature to date is limited regarding the implantation of VR in healthy young individuals with a focus on cognitive function. Thirty healthy males aged between 22.8 and 24.3 years volunteered to participate in the study randomly and were assigned to one of two groups with alike exercises: an e...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Sañudo Corrales, Francisco de Borja, Ellie, Abdi, Bernardo Filho, Mario, Taiar, Redha
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2020
Country:España
Institution:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repository:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:idus.us.es:11441/145399
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/11441/145399
https://doi.org/10.3390/app10228029
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Virtual reality
Physical exercise
Benefits
Cognitive flexibility
Attention
Young males
Description
Summary:The literature to date is limited regarding the implantation of VR in healthy young individuals with a focus on cognitive function. Thirty healthy males aged between 22.8 and 24.3 years volunteered to participate in the study randomly and were assigned to one of two groups with alike exercises: an experimental group (GE, n = 15) that performed an exercise protocol with a VR game and a controlled group that performed the exercise protocol without the VR (CON, n = 15). A 128-card computerized version of theWisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST) and the Stroop test were completed before and after the exercise protocol. There was a significant interaction e ect between time and condition for WCST preservation errors (F1,30 = 4.59, p = 0.041, 2 p = 0.141) and a significant time e ect for all WCST and Stroop outcomes in GE. Results of preliminary findings suggest that the use of a VR platform o ers e ective benefits with respect to cognitive flexibility and selective attention. In addition, participants can achieve additional benefits in cognitive flexibility by engaging in a traditional exercise protocol of a similar volume.