Priming cardiovascular exercise improves complex motor skill learning by affecting the trajectory of learning-related brain plasticity.

ABSTRACT: In recent years, mounting evidence from animal models and studies in humans has accumulated for the role of cardiovascular exercise (CE) in improving motor performance and learning. Both CE and motor learning may induce highly dynamic structural and functional brain changes, but how both processes interact to boost learning is presently unclear. Here, we hypothesized that subjects receiving CE would show a different pattern of learning-related brain plasticity compared to non-CE controls, which in turn associates with improved motor learning. To address this issue, we paired CE and motor learning sequentially in a randomized controlled trial with healthy human participants. Specifically, we compared the effects of a 2-week CE intervention against a non-CE control group on subsequent learni

SUBMITTER: Lehmann N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8783021 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature