Exercise, Brain and Cognition
A substantial body of research has reported a positive association between physical exercise and cognition, although the key factors driving that link are still a matter of scientific debate. Our work at the Cognitive and Affect Dynamics group at the University of Granada focuses on elucidating how brain physiology is affected by acute and prolonged physical exercise and how exercise-induced brain changes influence cognitive performance in laboratory tasks.
Our more recent work, an umbrella review of randomized control trials, indicates that the current evidence of exercise-induced cognitive benefits is weak and unreliable.
Related publications
- Ciria, L.F., Román-Caballero, R., Vadillo, M.A., Holgado D., Luque-Casado, L., Perakakis, P., Sanabria, D. (2023). An umbrella review of randomized control trials on the effects of physical exercise on cognition. Nature Human Behaviour 7, 928–941.
- Luque-Casado, A., Ciria, L., Sanabria, D., Perakakis, P. (2020). Exercise practice associates with different brain rhythmic patterns during vigilance. Physiology & Behavior, 224 (113033).
- Sanabria, D., Luque-Casado, A., Perales, JC., Ballester, R., Ciria, LF., Huertas, F., Perakakis, P. (2019). The relationship between vigilance capacity and physical exercise: a mixed-effects multistudy analysis. PeerJ 7:e7118
- Ciria, L., Luque‐Casado, A., Sanabria, D. Holgado, D., Ivanov, P., Perakakis, P. (2019). Oscillatory brain activity during acute exercise: Tonic and transient neural response to an oddball task. Psychophysiology, e13326.
- Bailon, C., Damas, M., Pomares, H., Sanabria, D., Perakakis, P., Goicoechea, C., Baños, O. (2018). Intelligent Monitoring of Affective Factors Underlying Sport Performance by Means of Wearable and Mobile Technology. Proceedings, 2, 19, pp. 1202.
- Ciria, L., Perakakis, P., Luque-Casado, A., Sanabria, D. (2018). Physical exercise increases overall brain oscillatory activity but does not influence inhibitory control in young adults. NeuroImage, 181, pp. 203–210.
- Holgado, D., Zandonai, T., Zabala, M., Hopker, J., Perakakis, P., Luque- Casado, A., Ciria, L., Guerra-Hernandez, E., Sanabria, D. (2017). Tramadol effects on physical performance and sustained attention during a 20-min indoor cycling time-trial: A randomised controlled trial. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 21, pp. 654–660.
- Ciria, L., Perakakis, P., Luque-Casado, A., Morato, C., Sanabria, D. (2017). The relationship between sustained attention and aerobic fitness in a group of young adults. Peerj, 5, e3831.
- Luque-Casado, A., Perakakis, P., Ciria, L.F., Sanabria, D. (2016). Transient autonomic responses during sustained attention in high and low fit young adults. Scientific Reports 6, 27556.
- Luque-Casado, A., Perakakis, P., Hillman, C.H., Kao, S.C., Llorens, F., Guerra, P., Sanabria, D. (2016). Differences in Sustained Attention Capacity as a Function of Aerobic Fitness. Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise, 48 (5), pp. 887–895.