Acute exercise and mindfulness meditation on learning and memory: randomized controlled intervention
Malina Austin, Paul D Loprinzi
Health Promotion Perspectives November 26, 2019 DOI: 10.15171/hpp.2019.43 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Within-subject experimental study Randomized Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 20 |
| Population | Young adults (mean age 21.6 years) |
| Interventions | Exercise Meditation |
| Duration | Three counterbalanced laboratory visits; long-term memory recall assessed after a 10-minute delay |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Awareness Exercise Meta-cognition |
| Key findings | Acute exercise improved word-list learning relative to a control condition, and combining exercise before encoding with meditation during early consolidation improved 10-minute delayed recall relative to exercise alone. The authors characterize these results as suggestive evidence for exercise and meditation effects on memory. |
Abstract
Background: The purpose of this experiment was to evaluate the potential combined effects of acute exercise and mindfulness mediation on episodic memory.
Methods: All data collection occurred in the authors’ laboratory (January to May of 2019). In this three-arm, within-subject design, participants (N=20; Mage=21.6 years) completed three counterbalanced laboratory visits, including Exercise Only, Exercise + Meditation and Control. Learning and memory were assessed from a word-list task. A one-factor repeated-measures ANOVA was computed for two memory outcomes, including the learning outcome (average performance across the 6 trials) and the long-term memory recall (10-minute delay).
Results: The exercise conditions had a greater learning effect when compared to the Control visit, Mdiff = 0.68 (95% CI: 0.10, 1.25), P = 0.02. The Exercise + Memory visit had better longterm memory when compared to Exercise Only, Mdiff = 0.95 (95% CI: 0.07, 1.83), P = 0.03.
Conclusion: The present experiment provides suggestive evidence that acute exercise may enhance learning and, when coupling acute exercise prior to encoding with meditation during early consolidation, long-term memory may be enhanced.
Comparable studies
Other experimental studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Cancer patients (clinical intervention study) | 2003 | Mixed methods: scale development, correlational, quasi-experimental, laboratory, experience-sampling, and clinical intervention study | |
| Loving-kindness meditation increases social connectedness. | 2008 | Controlled laboratory experiment | |
| Mindfulness and mind-wandering: Finding convergence through opposing constructs. | 2012 | Two studies: correlational study and experimental study | |
| Mental Training Enhances Attentional Stability: Neural and Behavioral Evidence | 2009 | Experimental study | |
| Mindfulness meditation and substance use in an incarcerated population. Incarcerated population | 2006 | Quasi-experimental with treatment-as-usual control condition |
Citations in the library
Cites 5
- Acute memory and psychotomimetic effects of cannabis and tobacco both ‘joint’ and individually: a placebo-controlled trial Psychological Medicine May 30, 2017
- Experimental Effects of Acute Exercise and Meditation on Parameters of Cognitive Function. Journal of Clinical Medicine May 29, 2018
- MAP Training My Brain™: Meditation Plus Aerobic Exercise Lessens Trauma of Sexual Violence More Than Either Activity Alone Frontiers in Neuroscience April 23, 2018
- Post-training Meditation Promotes Motor Memory Consolidation. Frontiers in Psychology 2016
- Nondirective meditation activates default mode network and areas associated with memory retrieval and emotional processing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience February 26, 2014