| Executive function,as an advanced cognitive function,is closely related to people’s physical and mental health,life and academic career development,and high level of executive function is an important prerequisite for people to successfully cope with daily life,learning challenges and mastering the abilities required for future life,while impairment in executive function development can lead to abnormalities in cognitive,emotional and social functions and so on Therefore,how to enhance executive function is an important research topic for scholars.Numerous studies have confirmed that aerobic exercise is an effective means to improve executive function.However,in previous studies,the discus sion on the elements of sports intervention mostly focused on the time,intensity,frequency and cycle of sports,and the research on the impact of sports environment elements on sports effect is relatively scarce.In addition,in the existing research with the theme of"sports environment and cognition",the test of subjects’ executive function mostly adopts neuropsychological scales and questionnaires.The measurement means are relatively single and lack of objectivity,and the exploration of brain mechanism is relatively insufficient.Based on this,this study takes the environmental elements of exercise as the starting point,combined with psychological test and near-infrared spectroscopy imaging technology,explores the differences of executive function of college students who have been doing aerobic exercise in different environments(green environment and indoor environment)for a long time,explores the impact of acute aerobic exercise in different environments on executive function of college students,and reveals the relationship between exercise environment and executive function through two levels of behavior and brain.And analyze its potential neural mechanism,in order to enrich and improve the research on the relationship between exercise and executive function,and provide direction and basis for the comprehensive promotion of "Sunshine Sports".This paper mainly includes three studies:Study 1:The differences in executive and brain activation among groups who had been in different environments for a long period.A total of 62 college students who participated in aerobic exercise in green or indoor environment for a long period of time were recruited in this study.The Stroop task,Nack task and Mos task were used to assess Stroop effect,working memory and cognitive flexibility,respectively,while brain activation data were collected from their brains using near-infrared spectral brain imaging.Independent sample t-tests were conducted to examine the differences in behavioral and brain activation of executive functions(inhibition,working memory,and cognitive flexibility)among people who completed aerobic exercise in different exercise environments over a long period of time.The results revealed that:(1)inhibition,the incongruent response time and Stroop effect in the long-term green environment exercise group were significantly shorter than those in the long-term indoor environment exercise group,the activation degree of chll(left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex)was significantly lower than that in the long-term indoor environment exercise group,and the activation degree of chll(left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex)was positively correlated with the incongruent conditioned response time;(2)working memory,1-back condition and the response time of 2-back condition in the long-term green environment exercise group was significantly better than that in the long-term indoor environment exercise group,the activation degree of ch19(left primary somatosensory cortex),ch23(right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex),ch24(right frontal polar),ch34(right Broca triangle),ch41(right primary somatosensory cortex),ch43(right superior temporal gyrus)and ch44(right superior temporal gyrus)was significantly lower than that in the long-term indoor environment exercise group,and the response time of 2-back condition was positively correlated with the activation degree of ch34(right Broca triangle);(3)cagnitive flexibility the reaction time and conversion cost of conversion conditions in the long-term green environment exercise group were significantly shorter than those in the long-term indoor environment exercise group,the activation degree of ch6(left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex),ch9(left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex),ch11(left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex),ch13(left pre motor and supplementary motor cortex),ch 15(left superior temporal gyrus),ch20(left superior temporal gyrus),ch21(left superior temporal gyrus),ch22(left superior temporal gyrus),ch35(right pre motor and supplementary motor cortex)and ch39(right superior temporal gyrus)was significantly lower than that in the long-term indoor environment exercise group,and the reaction time of conversion conditions was positively correlated with the activation degree of ch9(left dorsolateral prefrontal cort ex).Study 2:Effects of different exercise environments on executive function and brain activation.In this study,90 college students without daily exercise habits were randomly assigned to the green environment group.the gym group and the control group,and all subjects completed acute 30-minute session of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise for one-time exercise in different exercise environments according to their groups The subjects were required to complete an executive function task before and after the acute exercise session,and the brain data were collected at the same time when the executive function task was completed.A repeated-measures ANOVA was used to test the differences in executive function and brain activation before and after the acute exercise in different motor environments.(1)inhibition,the reaction time in the green environment group were significantly shorter than those in the control group after acute exercise,and the activation degree of chl4(left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex),ch16(left pre motor and supplementary motor cortex),ch21(left superior temporal gyrus),ch37(right superior temporal gyrus)and ch38(right pre motor and supplementary motor cortex)was significantly increased and significantly higher than that in other groups;(2)working memory,the reaction time of green environment group was significantly shorter than that of other groups after acute exercise,and the activation of ch8(left eye fields),ch12(right Broca triangle),ch14(left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex),ch30(right eye fields)and ch32(right dorsolateral prefrontal cort ex)was significantly increased and significantly higher than that of other groups,the activation changes of ch14(left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex)and ch12(right Broca triangle)in green environment group were moderately negatively correlated with the reaction time change of 1-back and 2-back,respectively.In addition,the exercise environment plays a mediator role between the activation of ch14(left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex)and the reaction time of 1-back;(3)cognitive flexibility,after acute exercise,the conversion condition reaction time and conversion cost of the green environment group were significantly shorter than those of other groups,the activation degree of ch2(left frontal polar),ch1l(left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex),ch24(right frontal polar ch25(right eye fields),ch3l(right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex),ch37(right superior temporal gyrus),ch40(right primary somatosensory cortex)and ch42(right superior temporal gyrus)was significantly increased and significantly higher than those of other groups,the activation changes of ch2(left frontal polar)and ch37(right superior temporal gyrus)in the green environment group were moderately negatively correlated with the changes of parity condition and conversion condition reaction time,respectively.In addition,the exercise environment plays a mediator role between the activation difference of ch37(right superior temporal gyrus)and the time difference of conversion condition response.Study 3:Effects of differents green environmental factors on executive function and brain activation.In this study,90 college students without daily exercise habits were randomly assigned to the green environment group,the picture group and the sound group,and all subjects were required to complete acute 20-minute moderate-intensity aerobic exercise session,depending on their group,in different green environment factors for acute aerobic exercise.The subjects completed an executive function task before and after acute exercise,and brain data were collected when the subjects completed the executive function task.Repeated measures ANOVA was used to test the differences in executive function and brain activation between the different groups before and after acute exercise.(1)inhibition,after acute moderate intensity aerobic exercise,the reaction time and Stroop effect of the green environment group were significantly shorter and shorter than those of other groups,and the activation levels of chl(left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex),ch14(left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex),ch16(left pre motor and supplementary motor cortex)and ch37(right superior temporal gyrus)were significantly increased and higher than those of other groups,the change of chl(left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex)activation in the green environment group was moderately negatively correlated with the change of inconsistent reaction time;(2)working memory,after acute moderate intensity aerobic exercise,the 2-back reaction time of the green environment group was significantly shorter and shorter than that of the sound group,and the activation degree of ch8(left eye fields),ch12(right Broca triangle),ch14(left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex),ch25(right eye fields).ch30(right eye fields)and ch32(right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex)was significantly higher than that of other groups,the green environment elements played a mediator role between the activation of ch14(left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex)and the change of 1-back reaction time;(3)cognitive flexibility,after acute moderate intensity aerobic exercise,the parity condition,conversion condition and conversion cost of the green environment group were significantly improved and better than other groups,and the activation degree of ch2(left frontal polar),ch24(right frontal polar),ch25(right eye fields)and ch31(right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex)were significantly improved and higher than other groups.In addition,green environmental elements play a mediator role between the activation difference of ch37(right superior temporal gyrus)and the time difference of conversion condition response.Conchsion:(1)the higher efficiency of neurons in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the right Broca triangle is related to the better performance of executive function of college students who have been in a green environment for chornic;(2)the green environment has the best effect on the improvement of executive function,and the sports environm ent can regulate the activation of the area of interest and the performance of executive function.The green environment may produce the unique benefit of improving executive function by affecting the activation of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the right superior temporal gyrus;(3)different green environment elements have different effects on the promotion of executive function,and the effects are sorted as follows:green environment>green environm ent picture>green environment sound The unique promotion effect of green environment on executive function is the result of the joint action of picture and sound.Only the green environment with both sound and picture may have the unique effect of improving executive function by improving the activation of the right superior temporal gyrus. |
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