WHEN LEARNING BECOMES A GOOD FIT: CONCURRENT EFFECTS OF EXERCISE ON MEMORY IN COMPARISON TO TRADITIONAL QUIET STUDY

¹Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, Allied Health, Toronto, Canada

Background: Reduction of sedentary lifestyle consequences, such as heart disease, is a traditionally understood benefit of exercise; however, the nervous system is also advantaged. Review of literature demonstrates a gap in research when comparing exercise-based study to quiet study.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects that moderate exercise while studying has on the ability of undergraduate students to learn memory-based material in comparison to traditional quiet study.

Methods: Participants were placed into two groups: study (S) or control study (CS), which means no study. Through randomization, group S was further divided into quiet study (QS) or exercise study (ES). QS and ES interventions involved one-hour protocol (two separate sessions of thirty minutes weekly), dedicated to the study of identical course-based material, either in a quiet atmosphere or while riding an adapted stationary bike. Four assessment categories: weekly quizzes, midterm examinations, controlled quizzes and final examinations were utilized to compare intervention protocols of QS and ES. In addition, pre and post surveys were used to compare CS, QS, and ES for memory retention over a 12-week time frame.

Results: A two-way analysis of variance revealed a significant interaction, p 0.0001, when comparing Pre Test and Post Test across the three protocol groups (CS, QS and ES). Correction for multiple comparisons was completed using Tukey’s test. Post Test analysis identified a significant difference between CS (M = 0.0) and QS (M = 131.9), p 0.0001; CS (M = 0.0) and ES (M = 179.7), p 0.0001; as well as QS (M = 131.9) and ES (M = 179.7), p = 0.0001. Pre Test analysis did not identify any significant differences between protocol groups CS (M = 0.4286),QS (M = 4.300) and ES (M = 5.100). Unpaired two tailed t-tests of weekly quizzes, both uncontrolled and controlled, as well as midterm and final examinations for ES and QS protocols were completed. Weekly quiz 1 showed a significant difference between mean scores of QS (M = 18.38, SEM = 2.263) and ES (M = 24.27, SEM = 1.030), p 0.05. Controlled quiz 2 showed a significant difference between mean scores of QS (M = 19.58, SEM = 2.545) and ES (M = 35.20, SEM = 4.903, p = 0.05. However, analysis failed to reach a significant level within a confidence interval of 95% for all other weekly quizzes, controlled quizzes and examinations.

Conclusion(s): Exercise while studying was shown to significantly improve mean scores when compared to quiet study with respect to long-term retrieval of learned material.

Implications: The findings of this study can dramatically influence the utilization of exercise as a significant tool to assist memory acquisition with implications for teaching and learning as well as health and wellness.

Funding acknowledgements: Project funding was obtained through Humber College Applied Research and Innovation DAIR Fund [Project ID: 2015- 023].

Topic: Education

Ethics approval: Humber College´s Research Ethics Board provided approval on November 28, 2014. Protocol number is 0308.

All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.