Application of a NIRS Neuroimaging Method to Elucidate Neural Mechanisms of Exercise-cognition Interaction

PURPOSE: There is growing attention on a neuroimaging method called near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), which enables the monitoring of task-related regional hemodynamic responses in the brain. The basic principles and appropriate experimental conditions should be explained to eliminate potent contaminations caused by exercise itself and to summarize well-organized recent studies focusing on the interaction between exercise and cognition before applying this noninvasive neuroimaging method to various studies in the field of Exercise Science.METHODS: A comprehensive search of PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar was performed to obtain recent studies examining the effects of exercise (or physical activity) on the executive functions localized in the prefrontal cortex by adopting the NIRS system.RESULTS: NIRS system enables exercise scientists to measure regional brain activity to investigate the effects of exercise on cognition and its neural substrates. Numerous studies have revealed that higher physical activity (or fitness) levels are related to better performance with increased prefrontal cortical activation during a task. Moreover, several longitudinal exercise intervention studies have demonstrated improved executive performance without increased task-related brain activation, particularly among older adults.CONCLUSIONS: NIRS neuroimaging studies support the notion that exercise has beneficial effects on executive function, with exerciseelicited functional changes in the prefrontal cortex.