Smoking attenuates regular aerobic exercise benefits to episodic free recall immediately following strenuous physical activity

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Bunce, David; Hays, Kate and Pring, Linda. 2004. Smoking attenuates regular aerobic exercise benefits to episodic free recall immediately following strenuous physical activity. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 18(2), pp. 223-231. ISSN 0888-4080 [Article]

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/acp.962

Abstract or Description

The present study was designed to evaluate the extent to which free recall performance is influenced
by competing demands on physiological resources dependent on blood-oxygen levels. Fifty-six
healthy young adults (mean age=20 years) were allocated to groups (n1–4=14) according to their
level of exercise (more than 6 h aerobic exercise per wk, or sedentary) and smoking (more than 10
cigarettes per day, or none) behaviour. Participants performed two free recall tasks, one under normal
physically inactive conditions and the other immediately following strenuous physical exertion (a
step-up test for 2 min). We predicted that recall would suffer following strenuous physical activity
among smoking aerobic exercisers. We reasoned this would be due to the oxygen-carrying capacity
of the blood being compromised in this group by higher levels of smoking-related carbon monoxide
in the blood stream. The results supported this prediction. We interpret our findings according to a
resource model of cognitive function, mediated by physiological mechanisms.

Item Type:

Article

Identification Number (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.962

Additional Information:

Please visit the author's web page at http://www.gold.ac.uk/psychology/staff/pring/ for the full-text.