Citation

Brunyé TT, Mahoney CR. Psychol. Rep. 2019; 122(1): 79-95.

Affiliation

Center for Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA; Cognitive Science Team, U.S. Army NSRDEC, Natick, MA, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0033294117750629

PMID

29300141

Abstract

The present experiment examined whether physiological arousal induced by acute bouts of aerobic exercise would influence attention and memory for scenes depicting or not depicting weapons. In a repeated-measures design, participants exercised at either low or high exertion levels. During exercise, they were presented with images, some of which depicted weapons; immediately following exercise, they completed a recognition test for portions of central and peripheral scene regions. Two primary results emerged. First, in the low exertion condition, we replicated extant research showing inferior peripheral scene memory when images contained, versus did not contain, weapons. Second, the high exertion condition increased central scene memory relative to low exertion, and this effect was specific to images containing weapons. Thus, we provide evidence for accentuated weapon focus effects during states of exercise-induced physiological arousal. These results contribute new applied and theoretical understandings regarding the interactions between physiological state, breadth of attention, and memory.

Language: en

Keywords

Exercise; attention and vigilance; memory; physical exertion