Skip to main content
OpenTrials
Completed

NCT Number: NCT03592238

Sympathetic Nervous System Mediation of Acute Exercise Effects on Childhood Brain and Cognition

Today's children have become increasingly inactive and unfit, with >50% of children not meeting the recommended 60 min of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Previous research has suggested that acute aerobic exercise of moderate intensity was associated with improved cognition manifested by improved performance and increased P3 amplitude, a neuroelectric indicator that reflects the amount of attentional allocation, in tasks requiring cognitive control. While minimal evidence exists to support potential mechanisms underlying the transient effects of exercise on brain and cognition, research suggests that phasic changes in the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine (LC-NE) (as measured by salivary alpha amylase (sAA)) system are a potential mechanism for explaining the acute effect of exercise on brain and cognition. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to examine the mechanisms linking acute aerobic exercise to improved cognitive control as well as the underlying neuroelectrical activities in children, using electroencephalography (EEG) and event-related potentials (ERPs). We hope to gain a better understanding of the role of acute exercise and cognitive and brain health. The results from this study will help identify mechanisms linking acute exercise to enhanced cognitive performance in children.

Our hypothesis is that exercise-induced phasic increases in sympathetic nervous system activity will mediate the effect of a single bout of exercise on brain function, cognition, and standardized achievement test performance.

Completed

Looking for future studies?

Notify Me

Key information

Conditions

Exercise Behavior Cognition Motor Activity

Age range

9 year–10 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Northeastern University

Boston, Massachusetts, 02115, United States

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Parental/guardian consent (non-consent of guardian).
  • Participants must have had no prior diagnosis of cognitive or physical disability, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (severe asthma, epilepsy, chronic kidney disease, and dependence upon a wheelchair/walking aid).
  • Participants must be free of any type of anti-psychotic, anti-depressant, anti-anxiety medication, as well as those medications used for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (use of any anti-psychotic, anti-depressant, anti-anxiety, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder medications).
  • Normal or corrected-to-normal vision based on the minimal 20/20 standard in order to complete the cognitive task (below 20/20 vision).
  • Participants must have not yet reached, or be in the earliest stages, of puberty, as measured by a modified test of the Tanner Staging System (onset of puberty as determined by Tanner).
  • English speaking.

Exclusion criteria

  • Participants with an intelligence quotient below 85 will be excluded.

Treatment and study plan

Aerobic Exercise Intervention

Other

The protocol will include a 25-min bout of exercise at an intensity of 75% HRmax, such that participants will engage in a 1-min warm up and a 1-min cool down, with the majority of time (i.e., 23-min) spent exercising at 75% of HRmax.

Trier Social Stress Test for Children

Other

Participants will be asked to imagine that they are in a new class with 20 other students, and that their teacher has asked them to stand in front of the class and introduce themselves. The mental arithmetic task will entail asking children to serially subtract the number 5 from a larger number as quickly as possible.

Seated Rest

Other

Children will be asked to sit quietly or read a book of their choosing.

Primary outcomes

  1. Neuroelectric outcome

    Time frame: baseline

    P3 - ERP

  2. Neuroelectric outcome

    Time frame: ~1 hr after arriving at lab, after completing the experimental condition

    P3 - ERP

  3. inhibitory control

    Time frame: baseline

    accuracy

  4. inhibitory control

    Time frame: baseline

    reaction time

  5. working memory

    Time frame: baseline

    accuracy

  6. working memory

    Time frame: baseline

    reaction time

  7. inhibitory control

    Time frame: ~1 hr after arriving at lab, after completing the experimental condition

    accuracy

  8. inhibitory control

    Time frame: ~1 hr after arriving at lab, after completing the experimental condition

    reaction time

  9. working memory

    Time frame: ~1 hr after arriving at lab, after completing the experimental condition

    accuracy

  10. working memory

    Time frame: ~1 hr after arriving at lab, after completing the experimental condition

    reaction time

  11. Academic Achievement outcome

    Time frame: ~1.5 hrs after arriving at lab, after completing the experimental condition

    WRAT3 (Wide Range, Inc., Wilmington, DE) Reading Accuracy

  12. Academic Achievement outcome

    Time frame: ~1.5 hrs after arriving at lab, after completing the experimental condition

    WRAT3 (Wide Range, Inc., Wilmington, DE) Spelling Accuracy

  13. Academic Achievement outcome

    Time frame: ~1.5 hrs after arriving at lab, after completing the experimental condition

    WRAT3 (Wide Range, Inc., Wilmington, DE) Math Accuracy

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Northeastern University

Other

Collaborators

  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2019
Primary completion
2024
Study completion
2024
First posted
Jul 19, 2018
Registry last updated
Jun 22, 2025

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

Related clinical trials

Published trials that share one or more normalized conditions with this study.