Behavioural Brain Research 226 (2012) 473–480

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Behavioural Brain Research

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Research report

Exercise, mood and cognitive performance in intellectual disability—A

neurophysiological approach
Tobias Vogt a,∗ , Stefan Schneider a , Vera Abeln a , Volker Anneken b , Heiko Klaus Strüder a
a
Department of Exercise Neuroscience, Institute of Movement and Neurosciences, German Sport University Cologne, Am Sportpark Müngersdorf 6, 50933 Cologne, Germany
b
Research Institute for Inclusion through Physical Activity and Sport, Römerstraße 100, 50226 Frechen, Germany

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: While numerous researches addressed the connection between physical exercise, changes in brain corti-
Received 21 September 2011 cal activity and its relationship to psycho-physiological processes, most of these neuro-scientific studies
Accepted 1 October 2011 were set up for healthy individuals. However, the benefits of exercise, such as well being, physical
Available online 15 October 2011
and cognitive health enhancements are also becoming increasingly important for intellectually disabled
individuals.
Keywords:
This study aimed to localize electroencephalographic activity changes in intellectually disabled indi-
Exercise
viduals following a moderate running exercise for 30 min. An increase in cognitive performance and in
Intellectual disability
EEG
mood was hypothesized to correlate with a decrease in fronto-temporal brain areas following exercise.
LORETA Significant changes in cortical current density in frontal brain areas as well as decreases in perceived
Mood physical energy could be shown. Overall motivational states (including self-confidence and social accep-
Cognition tance) as well as positive mood increased significantly. However, no changes could be observed for the
cognitive tasks following exercise.
With respect to the data provided here there is reason to believe, that a self-selected pace running
exercise, enhances self-esteem, coincided with cortical activity changes in fronto-temporal brain areas.
© 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The connection between physical exercises, changes in brain
cortical activity [1,2] and its relationship to mood [3–7] and
cognition [8–10] has been addressed in several cases recently.
The focus of many of these studies was to investigate the dif-
ferent effects of exercise intensities [11], durations [12] as well
as exercise preference levels [4] on neuropsychological changes.
Most of these studies were set up for healthy individuals, such
as well-trained athletes, physically active children [5] or elderly
people [13,14]. However, the benefits of physical exercise, such
as general well being [4], physical [15–17] and cognitive health
enhancements [9], are also becoming increasingly important for
intellectually disabled individuals, not only because of a general
increase in life expectancy [18,19]. Several studies investigated
the importance of physical exercise to achieve health benefits for
intellectually disabled individuals (for an overview, please see Ref.
[20] and more recently Ref. [21]) and it has been shown that
physical exercising seems to contribute to well being in intellec-
tually disabled individuals [22]. In addition, there is first evidence
that physical exercising improves cognitive processes, for example
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +49 221 4982 4230; fax: +49 221 4973 454.
E-mail address: t.vogt@dshs-koeln.de (T. Vogt).
reaction time [23], and supports social manners, such as friend-
ship [24] in intellectually disabled individuals. However, yet there
is rarely any evidence investigating the neuropsychological cor-
relates of physical exercise on intellectually disabled individuals
[20,25].
Therefore the aim of our study was to localize changes in brain
cortical activity in relation to mood and cognition after a moder-
ate physical exercise intervention in individuals with intellectual
disability.
Although the use of electroencephalographical (EEG) analysis
in the sport and exercise science has been comparatively rare to-
date, EEG is a well-established technique, which has been applied
in the field of psychology and clinical research for several decades.
There is evidence indicating that a general well being as well as
cognitive and recreational processes are associated with specific
changes in electro cortical activity especially in fronto-temporal
regions [3,4,8,9,13,26,27]. These findings support Dietrich’s tran-
sient hypofrontality hypothesis [28] that suggests a decrease of
neural activity in brain cortical regions that are rather inessential
to performing the exercise.
Today’s technical innovations enable clear EEG recordings,
before, after and even during exercise [10,29] and allow, in
combination with a localization method (low resolution brain elec-
tro magnetic tomography, LORETA), to create mappings of the
recorded brain cortical changes [3,30].

0166-4328/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2011.10.015
474 T. Vogt et al. / Behavioural Brain Research 226 (2012) 473–480
Fig. 1. Experimental setup.
In this study we hypothesized that (1) moderate 30 min run-
ning of intellectually disabled individuals [20,21,31] would lead
to a decrease in cortical activation after exercising, particularly in
fronto-temporal brain regions. Based on previous results address-
ing the connection of physical exercise, mood and cognition
[7,9,10], (2) an increase in cognitive performance that is accom-
panied by an increase in mood is hypothesized to correlate with
the expected changes in fronto-temporal areas.
To minimize distraction within the participating intellectually
disabled individuals, we chose a field setting and tried to put as few
limitations as possible on their running activities [4,13].
2. Material and methods
2.1. Subjects
The Universitys’ Human Research Ethics Committee approved this study. Volun-
tarily 12 male individuals (age: 22.50 ± 9.87 years, height: 177.92 ± 6.13 cm, weight:
81.50 ± 24.58 kg) participated in this study. Prior to involvement, all participants
attended an informatory meeting. Participants and legal guardians provided written
informed consent, respectively. According to the HMB-W policy [32,33] including
Metzler’s evaluation of groups with specific needs for care (‘Hilfebedarfsgruppen’
[34]) all participants are considered being intellectually disabled. All participants are
used to partake in physical exercise programmes (either football or running activi-
ties) and are considered being relatively fit. All procedures were in compliance with
the Declaration of Helsinki for human participants.
2.2. Exercise protocol
Following a pre-exercise medical screening, participants underwent a one-time
running exercise at self-selected [3], moderate pace for 30 min. Individual heart
rate was recorded using a mobile heart rate monitor (Suunto, Vantaa, Finland).
During each run a study operator accompanied the participants. EEG activity was
recorded for 3 min sitting in an upright rest position with eyes closed prior to the
exercise (EEGpre ), immediately after exercising (EEGpostRUN ) and after the cognitive
tasks (EEGpostCOG ). Following the EEGpre and EEGpostRUN recordings, participants com-
pleted a paper-pencil mood questionnaire (MOODpre , MOODpostRUN ) Fig. 1. Further
details of the EEG recordings as well as the mood assessment and the cognitive tasks
are provided below.
2.3. EEG recordings
A 32-channel portable EEG-System (Brain Products, Munich, Germany) was used
for data acquisition (sampling rate 500 Hz). An EEG-cap that adapted to individual
head size was mounted in the 10–20 system [35] 15 min prior to exercising. The
EEG-cap was built of Ag–AgCl electrodes and one reference electrode (mounted in
the triangle of FP1, FP2 and FZ). EEG activity was recorded on positions FP1, FP2, F7,
F3, Fz, F4, F8, FC5, FC1, FC2, FC6, T7, C3, Cz, C4, T8, TP9, CP5, CP1, CP2, CP6, TP10,
P7, P3, Pz, P4, P8, PO9, O1, Oz, O2, PO10. The EEG-cap was fixed with a chin strip
to prevent shifting during exercise. In order to prevent an increase in heat dur-
ing exercise the EEG-cap was permeable to air. Distances between electrodes were
approximately 5 cm to avert possible cross talk after exercise due to salt bridges
between electrodes. Each electrode was filled with SuperViscTM electrode gel (Easy-
Cap GmbH, Herrsching, Germany) to optimize signal transduction. We excluded
electrodes from further analysis, if the impedance of an electrode exceeded 10 k.
The analogue signal of the EEG was amplified and converted to digital signals using
Brain Vision Recorder 1.1 Software (Brain Products, Munich, Germany).
2.4. Low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (LORETA)
The KEY Institute for Brain-Mind Research provides the low resolution brain
electromagnetic tomography analysis (University Hospital of Psychiatry, Zurich,
Switzerland). LORETA enables a spatial identification and analysis of brain corti-
cal activity, providing a three-dimensional (3D) localization based on traditional
EEG recordings. This method has been thoroughly described and validated in previ-
ous clinical [36–39] and exercise studies [3–5,10,13,29,40,41]. In the present study a
standard LORETA transformation was used to localize cortical current density within
specific regions of interest (ROI, see Section 2.5).
Table 1
The MoodMeter® (sub-) dimensions.
MoodMeter® Dimension Sub-dimension
Perceived physical Perceived physical Physical energy
state state Physical fitness
Physical flexibility
Physical Health
EZ-scale Psychological Relaxation
strain Positive mood
Calmness
Recovery
EZ-scale Motivational state Self-confidence
Willingness to seek contact
Social acceptance
Readiness to strain
2.5. EEG analysis
The EEG was low and high-pass filtered, so that a frequency range from 0.5 to
50.0 Hz (notch filter) remained for analysis (time constant 0.0455 s; 24 dB/octave).
Data was segmented into 4-s segments, whereby an overlap of 10% was accepted.
Following an automatic artefact rejection (gradient < 35 ␮V; maximum and min-
imum amplitude between −100 ␮V and 100 ␮V), segmented data was baseline
corrected and analysed by spectral analysis (FFT, resolution 0.244 Hz; Hanning win-
dow, 10%).
To determine anatomical regions of interest (ROIs) and the site-specific cortical
current density values (␮V2 /mm4 ) the build in LORETA transformation of the Brain
Vision Analyzer software 2.0 was used (Gilching, Germany). A minimum of twenty
4-s segments of artefact-free resting EEG was used for the transformation and cal-
culation. ROIs researched in this study are known to be located in central areas of
the frontal lobe: rectal gyrus, medial frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus and orbital
gyrus. According to the literature, identifying the relevance of medial frontal lobe
regions in psychological and cognitive processing [42,43], we additionally decided,
to specifically define Brodmann areas 11, 25 and 47 as ROIs respectively [44].
2.6. Mood assessment
The MoodMeter® consists of Bodyfinder and Feelfinder modules. The Bodyfinder
has been developed to determine the current perceived physical state (PEPS) in tradi-
tionally more bio medically orientated research (e.g., exercise physiology, internal
medicine) and is very sensitive to short term alterations in mood (validated dur-
ing the years 2001–2005 on a total of 645 participants; Cronbach alpha intraclass
correlation coefficient 0.82 and 0.92; [45]). The Feelfinder includes a short form of
the ‘Eigenzustandsskala’ (EZ-scale [46]). Opposed to other psychological adjective
scales (e.g. POMS) the EZ-scale allows the measurement of not only the emotional
or psychological strain, but also a person’s motivational state. In the present study
we used a short 16-item-form of the EZ-scale developed and validated by Nitsch
[46], which forms eight sub-dimensions (Table 1; please see Ref. [45] for a detailed
description of the development and operating mode of the MoodMeter® ).
We used a modified paper-pencil version of the MoodMeter® for the intellectu-
ally disabled individuals. It contained two catalogues, each consisting of the same
32 adjectives (16 PEPS, 16 EZ-scale) presented in a random order. The first cata-
logue was presented before exercising (MOODpre ). Catalogue MOODpost was then
presented following the EEGpostRUN measurement after exercising. It took approx-
imately 5 min (5.46 ± 1.15 min) for each catalogue to be completed. Preliminary
instructions given to the participants were: “Please name, without any hesitation, to
what extent the following adjective applies to your physical state at this moment.”
The endpoints of a 6-step ranking scale were anchored (0 = not at all; 5 = totally).
Due to relatively slow reading and understanding of the adjectives the original time
limit (4 s per adjective) was excluded.
2.7. Cognitive tasks
The Vienna test system (VTS) is a standardized, computerized psychological
assessment tool that has been used in sport and exercise science research earlier
[47]. The VTS has been determined to assess basic cognitive functions (i.e. alertness,
memory consolidation, motor functions) in particular neuropsychological impair-
ment. It provides sectional cognitive performance tests that allow for individual
levels of difficulty, referring to the participant’s clinical picture or age for example.
 T. Vogt et al. / Behavioural Brain Research 226 (2012) 473–480 475

Fig. 2. Cortical current density changes over time–rectal gyrus.

The cognitive performance tasks used in this study consist of a continuous visual
recognition task (CVR) and a reaction time task (RT). In each task, we chose a level
of difficulty, modified for intellectually disabled individuals (VTS versions: CVR-S6,
RT-S1).
The continuous visual recognition task (CVR; Cronbach’s alpha reliability of 0.84)
assesses memory performance and cerebral deficits of each individual participant
(number of correct recognitions). Its main areas of application are in the fields of neu-
ropsychology, clinical and health psychology as well as pedagogical psychology. CVR
is based on the decision whether an item is shown for the first time or has already
been presented on screen, following a button to press respectively. According to
the clinical picture of our participants, we chose a total of 100 items, divided into
objects, simple numbers and letters that were presented in a randomized sequence.
It took approximately 4 min for each participant to finish the CVR task.
The reaction time task (RT; Cronbach’s alpha reliability 0.961) records the mean
reaction time in milliseconds (ms). The RT covers the areas of alertness, the ability to
suppress an inappropriate reaction, as well as vigilance and intermodal comparison.
The main areas of the application for RT are clinical and health psychology, per-
sonnel psychology, sport psychology, and educational psychology. For the RT the
participant was instructed to react upon a visual stimulus (appearing and disap-
pearing yellow light), following a button to press respectively. Participants were
instructed to “react as fast and as precise as possible”. Each participant took approx-
imately 3 min to finish the RT.
Following EEGpostRUN participants completed the cognitive performance tasks. In
addition the cognitive performance tasks were conducted under control conditions
without a running exercise intervention.
2.8. Statistical procedures
All statistical procedures were performed using STATISTICA programme 7.1
(StatSoft, Tulsa, USA).
In order to display exercise induced changes in estimated cortical current den-
sity, one-way repeated measures of variance (ANOVA) for the factor measurement
(EEGpre , EEGpostRUN , EEGpostCOG ) was computed for LORETA power values. Fisher’s
least significant difference served as post hoc test. Due to measuring faults only 11
out of 12 participants were considered for the statistical procedure of the cortical
current density values.

Fig. 3. Cortical current density changes over time–medial frontal gyrus.

476 T. Vogt et al. / Behavioural Brain Research 226 (2012) 473–480

Fig. 4. Cortical current density changes over time–orbital gyrus.

Fig. 5. Cortical current density over time–Brodmann area 11.

Overall MoodMeter® dimensions of PEPS (perceived physical state) and EZ-scale
(motivational state and psychological strain) were checked for significant changes
using Wilcoxon paired samples test with the intra-individual factor measurement
(MOODpre to MOODpost ).
Cognitive performance tests CVR and RT were computed using one-way
repeated measures of variance (ANOVA) for the factor measurement (intervention,
control conditions).
Two-tailed level of significance was set at p < 0.05. Data in the text are presented
as means (∀) ± standard deviation (SD).
3. Results
3.1. Time and heart rate
3.2. Cortical current density
Although frontal lobe values of cortical current density revealed
no significant changes (p = 0.76099), cortical current density val-
ues of specific frontal lobe areas (ROIs) recorded after exercising
decreased significantly compared to baseline measurements prior
to the exercise: rectal gyrus (p = 0.00507), medial frontal gyrus
(p = 0.03249) and orbital gyrus (p = 0.00576) as well as Brodmann
area 11 (p = 0.00709) and Brodmann area 25 (p = 0.03551) (Figs. 2–6,
Table 2).
Cortical current density values recorded in the middle frontal
gyrus (p = 0.17712) and in Brodmann area 47 (p = 0.69759) revealed
no significant changes.

On average participants ran for 00:30.53 min (±00:00.23 min)

3.3. Mood assessment
at an average heart rate of 154.50 bpm (±14.43 bpm). The aver-
age participants’ max heart rate during running was 177.58 bpm Although the overall dimensions perceived physical state showed
(±10.06 bpm). no significant changes (p > 0.05) within sub-dimension physical
 T. Vogt et al. / Behavioural Brain Research 226 (2012) 473–480 477

Fig. 6. Cortical current density changes over time–Brodmann area 25.

energy (p = 0.003346) the recorded values for Moodpost decreased Table 3

Mood assessment’s (sub-)dimensions.
significantly compared to the values recorded for Moodpre (Table 3).
No significant changes were found in the overall dimension MoodMeter® dimensions (n = 12) T Z p-Value
psychological strain (p > 0.05). However, sub-dimension positive Perceived physical state 21.50 1.372813 0.169811
mood (p = 0.046400) revealed a significant increase of the recorded Physical energy 0.00 2.934058 ↓ 0.003346**
Physical fitness 22.00 0.560612 0.575063
Physical flexibility 13.50 1.066228 0.286321
Table 2 Physical health 18.00 0.00 1.000000
Cortical current density changes in ROIs.
Psychological strain 19.00 0.866400 0.386271
Rectal gyrus Relaxation 26.00 0.152894 0.878482
Positive mood 1.00 1.991741 ↑ 0.046400*
Measurement(␮V2 /mm4 ) EEGpre EEGpostRun EEGpostCog
Calmness 10.50 1.050210 0.293622
pre
EEG (∀ 9,21 ± SD 2,68) p = 0.011419 *
p = 0.002041* Recovery 8.50 1.936659 0.052788
EEGpostRun (∀ 6,37 ± SD 3,47) p = 0.011419* p = 0.457540
Motivational state 6.00 2.191483 ↑ 0.028418*
EEGpostCog (∀ 5,60 ± SD 2,83) p = 0.002041* p = 0.457540
Self-confidence 4.00 2.745626 ↑ 0.006040**
Willingness to seek contact 9.50 1.540107 0.123535
Medial frontal gyrus Social acceptance 1.50 2.310462 ↑ 0.020863*
Measurement(␮V2 /mm4 ) EEGpre EEGpostRun EEGpostCog Readiness to strain 6.00 0.943456 0.345448

pre Displayed are values of the Wilcoxon paired sample test. Arrows indicate an
EEG (∀ 7,22 ± SD 2,64) p = 0.165346 p = 0.009699*
increased (↑) or decreased (↓) perception respectively.
EEGpostRun (∀ 5,92 ± SD 3,26) p = 0.165346 p = 0.171263 *
Indicate the level of significance (p < 0.05).
EEGpostCog (∀ 4,64 ± SD 2,80) p = 0.009699* p = 0.171263 **
Indicate the level of significance (p < 0.01).

Orbital gyrus

Measurement(␮V2 /mm4 ) EEGpre EEGpostRun EEGpostCog

Moodpost values compared to the values recorded for Moodpre
pre *
EEG (∀ 11,95 ± SD 3,21) p = 0.015191 p = 0.002122**
(Table 3).
EEGpostRun (∀ 8,08 ± SD 4,32) p = 0.015191* p = 0.394074
EEGpostCog (∀ 6,93 ± SD 3,29) p = 0.002122** p = 0.394074 The overall dimension motivational state showed a significant
increase (p = 0.028418) of the recorded Moodpost values compared
Brodmann area 11 to values recorded for Moodpre . Additionally, sub-dimensions self-
confidence (p = 0.006040) and social acceptance (p = 0.020863) both
Measurement(␮V2 /mm4 ) EEGpre EEGpostRun EEGpostCog
revealed a significant increase of the recorded Moodpost values
pre *
EEG (∀ 5,09 ± SD 1,29) p = 0.020395 p = 0.002469** compared to the values recorded for Moodpre (Table 3).
EEGpostRun (∀ 3,61 ± SD 1,95) p = 0.020395* p = 0.357443
EEGpostCog (∀ 3,05 ± SD 1,48) p = 0.002469** p = 0.357443

Brodmann area 25 Table 4

Cognitive performance.
Measurement(␮V2 /mm4 ) EEGpre EEGpostRun EEGpostCog
Cognitive performance – Vienna testing F(1,11) p-Value
EEGpre (∀ 2,71 ± SD 0,92) p = 0.054887 p = 0.013766*
system
EEGpostRun (∀ 1,98 ± SD 1,22) p = 0.054887 p = 0.515892
EEGpostCog (∀ 1,74 ± SD 1,07) p = 0.013766* p = 0.515892 Continuous visual recognition task – 0.02012 0.88977
number of correct hits
Displayed are intra-individual changes of cortical current density using Fisher LSD
Reaction time task – mean reaction time 0.14635 0.70934
Post hoc-Test, including mean values (∀) and standard deviation (SD) in ␮V2 /mm4 .
* Displayed are values of the one-way repeated measures of variance (ANOVA) for the
Indicate the level of significance (p < 0.05).
** factor measurement (intervention, control conditions).
Indicate the level of significance (p < 0.01).
478 T. Vogt et al. / Behavioural Brain Research 226 (2012) 473–480
3.4. Cognitive performance
Cognitive performance values for both, RT and CVR recorded
after exercise revealed no significant changes compared to values
of the control measurements (p > 0.05; Table 4).
4. Discussion
This study aimed to localize changes in electroencephalo-
graphic activity, mood and cognitive performance in intellectually
disabled individuals following a moderate running exercise. Sig-
nificant changes in cortical current density of frontal brain areas
as well as decreases in perceived physical energy were reported,
whereas overall motivational states (including self-confidence and
social acceptance) as well as positive mood increased significantly.
No changes could be observed for the cognitive tasks following
exercise.
The findings of our research revealed a significant decrease
in cortical current density after exercise in frontal lobe regions,
specifically pronounced in the rectal gyrus, medial frontal gyrus
and orbital gyrus. Besides the literatures’ dominant association of
the frontal lobe with emotional processes (for an overview please
refer to Ref. [1]), a number of convincing neuro-scientific evidences
show, that these frontal lobe gyri also play important roles in cog-
nitive processing. Neuropsychological investigations on illiteracy
for example, show evidence, that the left rectal gyrus is associ-
ated with reading and writing during childhood [48]. In addition,
a comparative study on cerebral blood flow confirmed a general
involvement of the right rectal gyrus and left orbital gyrus in work-
ing memory and novelty response processes as well as in cognitive
and emotional processing, such as the perception of moods [49].
An fMRI study by Talati and Hirsch [42] revealed, that the medial
frontal gyrus is associated with high-level executive functions and
decision-related processes, such as recognition processes. Deary
et al. [50] investigated the performance of healthy adults in a visual
inspection time task. Their findings provide evidence, identifying
the medial frontal gyrus as part of a functional connectivity net-
work, that is possibly associated with the processing of visually
degraded perceptions [50].
It seems important to stress, that the present study revealed
similar decreases in cortical current density in even more precise
medial frontal lobe regions, the Brodmann areas 11 and 25. Brod-
mann area 11 is known to relate to the rectal gyrus and orbital
gyrus [49] and is, however, together with Brodmann area 25, also
associated to be preferentially involved in psychological processes
as compared to cognitive processes [44].
However, there is evidence suggesting new research approaches
that address a connection of decreased frontal brain activity and
cognitive psychology [28]. On the basis of these previous research
findings and with respect to Dietrich’s transient hypofrontality the-
ory [28], the present studys’ decrease of cortical current density in
frontal lobe regions after exercise might explain a restructuring of
resources, referring to mood and initial cognitive states [51].
A decrease in perceived physical energy, reported in this study,
indicates that the running exercise, completed by our participants,
was physically challenging and somewhat tiring. These results do
not contradict other findings, relating an effect of abating perceived
physical energy after exercising and brain cortical activity [4,5,7].
More interestingly, our results revealed an increase in the over-
all motivational state after exercise in addition. More specifically
this was pronounced in the perception of self-confidence and social-
acceptance of the participants. The benefits of exercise in relation to
mood have been reported in previous research many times [3,6,7].
Moreover, several neuropsychological studies show evidence that
exercise has an effect on both social- and self-perception [4,10,52].
There is also evidence, suggesting the social aspects of exercise to
function as a motivator for an ongoing participation in exercise
programmes and herewith to foster its benefits such as friendship
and social connection [24]. Earlier research by Wurst et al. [53],
who investigated the effects of a weight-reduction programme in
an intellectually disabled individual (12 years old), reported an
achievement in the participants’ self-esteem as well as a positive
experience of social acceptance afterwards. On the basis of our
findings of an increased motivational state, including an increased
perception of self-confidence and social acceptance as well as posi-
tive mood in intellectually disabled individuals after exercise and
with respect to previous research results, there is reason to believe
that physical exercising, even following a one-time running exer-
cise, enhances social- and self-perception in intellectually disabled
individuals. Adding to previous research [22], that exercise seems to
contribute to well being in intellectually disabled individuals, this
also underlines the importance of exercise for intellectually dis-
abled individuals, improving the quality of life and a general well
being.
With respect to previous research, reporting significant
improvements in reaction time following a structured physical fit-
ness programme for 12 weeks in intellectually disabled individuals
[23] we expected to observe improvements by our participants in
the reaction time task after exercising. Furthermore, a most recent
review on exercise and cognitive function in relation to neuro-
logical disorders show evidence that exercise improves attention
processes and cognitive flexibility [25], giving reason to expect
similar findings in our studys’ visual recognition task following
exercise. Additionally, although a non-exercise study, Kamijo et
al. [54] investigated working memory under speed and accuracy
instructions, suggesting a more constant level of control in higher-
fit individuals. However, our study revealed, despite promising
previous research findings, no cognitive tasks changes following
exercise. Although carefully chosen and modified, the cognitive
tasks used in this study might still not have been appropriate for
the specific needs of our intellectually disabled participants.
Today, it is widely assumed that changes in electroencephalo-
graphic activity in frontal brain regions are related to mood
[7,11,51] and cognitive performance [9]. There is evidence that
the influences of exercise, mood and cognitive performance can
be due to an exercise-induced state of frontal hypofunction
[28,55].
The present studys’ decrease in frontal cortical current density
following exercise, coincided with an increase in self-esteem and
mood, adds to previous research. Schneider et al. [10] for exam-
ple provide evidence, that changes in brain cortical activity due to
exercise may serve as a countermeasure to psycho-physiological
deconditioning. In addition, exercise seems to be related to indi-
vidual preferences in both, exercise intensity and duration as well
as in the type of exercising, suggesting self-selected exercise condi-
tions related to a general well being [3,4]. Furthermore, convincing
evidence exists, relating academic achievement and exercise [9].
To that effect, a study by Schneider et al. [5] give reason to believe,
that school children’s cognitive performance may benefit from a
decrease in frontal brain areas following a moderate cycling exer-
cise. Recently, coherences between brain cortical function and
neurocognitive performances were observed, even under extreme
conditions (changed gravity [40]). However, Dietrich and Sparling
[56] also suggest, that non-cognitive tasks such as treadmill run-
ning, can interfere with resources that are potentially available for
cognitive processes.
With respect to our findings, we are well aware that the low
number of rather heterogeneous participants limits the present
study. Furthermore, we experienced a considerable difficulty in
finding adequate measuring devices for intellectually disabled indi-
viduals, in particular for the assessment of cognitive performances.
 T. Vogt et al. / Behavioural Brain Research 226 (2012) 473–480
5. Conclusion
The benefits of physical exercise on mood and cognitive per-
formance have been investigated in several neuropsychological
studies [5,7,9]. With respect to the data provided here it could
be assumed, that a moderate self-selected pace running exercise
for 30 min, enhances self-esteem, coincided with cortical activity
changes in fronto-temporal brain areas. However, no effects on
cognitive performance were observed.
Following this neuropsychological approach, there is a need for
future studies, evaluating the specific needs to enhance mood in
intellectually disabled individuals. In addition, further investiga-
tions of neurocognitive processes should take the clinical picture’s
diversity of intellectual disabilities into account, if possible in more
homogeneous participants.
Acknowledgments
This study was funded by the German Sport University Cologne
awarding a research grant to the authors of this publication – Tobias
Vogt in collaboration with Stefan Schneider and Vera Abeln.
We would like to thank all our participants for being part of
and spending some of their valuable time for this study. Everybody
looked extremely beautiful with the cap!
A special thanks goes to the parents and the administra-
tion of the ‘Heilpädagogisches Therapie- und Förderzentrum St.
Laurentius-Warburg’ as well as the executive board of the ‘Cari-
tas Wohn- und Werkstätten im Erzbistum Paderborn e. V.’ who
realized the relevance of this approach and fully supported this
study.
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