The Effect of a Single Bout of Balance and Coordination Exercise on Learning and Memory of Young Adults

Background: A single bout of physical activity was found to improve executive functions, attention, cognitive speed and episodic memory. Balance and coordination exercises are known to involve activation of the cerebellum, which influences attention, working memory, and verbal learning and memory.

Aim: To assess the influence of a single bout of balance and coordination exercise on learning and memory of young adults.

Methods: Sixteen physically active young adults (age = 28±2.61 yr) performed six appointments in two conditions: a PA intervention, or control condition (watching a silent film) for 25 min, which was followed by an exam on one of two subjects: dolphins or chocolate. Then they were presented with an informative video about the subject, and examined on it. Twenty-four hours and two weeks later, they performed two more exams about the subject. In the second phase they were presented and examined on the second informative video in the second condition.

Results: Two weeks following the exposure to the informative video, the participants had a significantly higher total score in the PA phase in comparison to their performance two weeks following exposure to the informative video in the control condition. The interaction time X condition was found to be significant (F_3,48=7.65; p.01), implying a positive effect of PA on the retention phase.

Discussion: The results of the study show that a single bout of PA comprising 25 minutes of balance and coordination exercises had a clear advantage in the participants` ability to retain information from an instructional video presented after the PA intervention. Importantly, the most robust effect of the PA was on performance at two weeks post-training.

Conclusion: The present findings point to a positive effect of balance and coordination exercises on retaining declarative long-term memory. Based upon this, these findings could be used to encourage the balance and coordination exercises prior to learning new declarative information.