Effect of brief mindfulness and relaxation inductions on anxiety, affect and brain activation in athletes.

The mindfulness-based intervention and psychological skills training are often used for maintaining the mental health or reducing undesirable mental states in athletes. However, their differences in acute effects on mental health and underlying neural mechanism are not well understood. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to examine the differential effects of brief mindfulness induction (MI) and relaxation induction (RI) on state anxiety, affect and brain activation. Thirty-five track and field athletes were recruited for this study. Using a within-subjects crossover design, participants underwent three conditions that incorporated two 30-min experimental conditions (i.e., MI or RI) and a control condition. State anxiety and affect were assessed before and after intervention, and brain activation (i.e., theta, alpha bands) were recorded by electroencephalography (EEG) during each 30-min condition. Repeated measures analysis of variance revealed that MI and RI similarly reduced state anxiety and negative affect from pre-test to post-test compared to the control condition. In terms of positive affect, there were no significant differences among the three conditions across times. Furthermore, participants exhibited higher frontal theta power during the MI and RI than control condition, whereas no differences in alpha power were observed among conditions. The current study provides initial evidence from an electrophysiological perspective that brief MI and RI both improve the negative psychological states in individual sport athletes through similar neural mechanisms. Nevertheless, the moderating effects of training experiences and long-term interventions on mental state and EEG activity in athletes need further investigation in future studies.

Effects of acute moderate-intensity exercise on executive function in children with preterm birth: A randomized crossover study.

BACKGROUND: Acute exercise appears to promote executive function (EF) in children. However, the effect of acute exercise on EF in children with preterm birth (PB) remains unclear. OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether acute moderate-intensity exercise improves EF in children with PB. METHODS: Twenty child participants with PB (age = 10.95 ± 1.19 years, birth age = 31.71 ± 3.64 weeks) completed exercise and control sessions in a randomized crossover design. In the exercise session, participants completed a 30-minute period of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise. In the control session, participants watched a video for appropriately 30 min. Following each session immediately, inhibitory control, an aspect of EF, was assessed with the Numerical Stroop task. RESULTS: Response time (RT) for the Stroop's incongruent condition was shorter after the exercise session than after the control session. However, no differences were observed in RT for the congruent condition. Accuracy rate (ACC) in both congruent and incongruent conditions did not differ between exercise and control session. CONCLUSION: The findings support the beneficial effect of acute exercise on executive function (EF) in children with PB, particularly in terms of improving inhibitory control.

Effect of mindfulness-based intervention on endurance performance under pressure and performance-relevant mental attributes, an interdisciplinary perspective: Protocol for a Mindfulness-Based Peak Performance (MBPP) trial.

Performance under pressure is one of the primary features of competitive sports. Considering that increased competition levels are typically accompanied by elevated stress and anxiety, athletes' ability to cope with stress has gained even more importance in recent years. Accordingly, the current trial, entitled Mindfulness-based Peak Performance (MBPP), will take an interdisciplinary approach (e.g., sport psychology, sports training, and cognitive neuroscience), to more definitively examine whether a MBPP affects athletic performance under pressure and relevant mental attributes. This study is an 8-week, three-arm, randomized controlled trial (RCT). A total of 90 athletes, aged between 18 and 30 years will be recruited. Eligible participants will be randomly assigned into (1) an MBPP group, (2) a self-talk (ST) group, and (3) a wait-list control (WC) group. The MBPP and ST interventions consist of a 60-min session weekly for 8 weeks. Primary outcomes are endurance performance and performance-relevant mental attributes including behavior (i.e., stress response, emotion regulation, and engagement) and neurocognitive processes (e.g., attention, executive function, brain resting state), which will be assessed at baseline and post-intervention. Dispositional mindfulness and athletic psychological skills will be secondary outcomes, also assessed at baseline and post-intervention. The MBPP and ST are expected to improve performance under pressure, but MBPP is expected to show greater improvement than ST. Additionally, we expect the MBPP will improve the relevant mental attributes. The results from this trial might provide rigorous evidence and insight into MBI application in the sports context. ClinicalTrials.govregistration:NCT05612295.

The Association of Obesity and Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Relation to Cognitive Flexibility: An Event-Related Potential Study.

This study investigates an association between obesity and cardiorespiratory fitness concerning their potential effects on cognitive flexibility in young adults from behavioral and neuroelectrical perspectives. Eligible young adults (N = 140, 18-25 years) were assigned into one of four groups, according to their status of obesity (i.e., body mass index) and cardiorespiratory fitness levels (i.e., estimated maximal oxygen uptake), namely, normal weight with high cardiorespiratory fitness (NH), obese with high cardiorespiratory fitness (OH), normal weight with low cardiorespiratory fitness (NL), and obese with low cardiorespiratory fitness (OL). The task-switching test was utilized, and its induced endogenous (P3) and exogenous (N1) event-related potential components were recorded. Concerning behavioral indices, the NH demonstrated superior behavioral performance across global switching and local switching of the task-switching test compared to individuals with lower cardiorespiratory fitness and obesity (i.e., NL, OH, and OL). Additionally, the OH demonstrated better performance than the OL during the heterogeneous condition. For neuroelectrical indices, the NH had larger mean P3 amplitudes during global and local switching than the other three groups. A larger N1 amplitude was also observed in the NH during local switching than in the OH group. The findings suggest that cardiorespiratory fitness has beneficial effects on cognitive flexibility, attentional resource allocation, and sensory evaluation in young adults. Furthermore, our research provided novel evidence showing that cardiorespiratory fitness might potentially alleviate the adverse effects of obesity on cognitive flexibility in young adults.

Cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with sustained neurocognitive function during a prolonged inhibitory control task in young adults: An ERP study.

Although beneficial associations between cardiorespiratory fitness and cognitive function have been established, whether cardiorespiratory fitness is related to behavioral and neuroelectric indices of performance during a prolonged inhibitory control task remains unknown. Young adults, categorized into High and Low Fitness groups, completed a 60-min Stroop task, while the N1 and P3 components of event-related potentials were measured. The results showed that the High Fitness group demonstrated shorter response times, regardless of the Stroop task congruency or time-on-task, than Low Fitness group. The High Fitness group also exhibited larger P3 amplitudes than the Low Fitness group, but no differences in N1 amplitudes were observed. These findings suggest that cardiorespiratory fitness during young adulthood has beneficial effects on task performance and attention allocation during an inhibitory control task, and these benefits can be sustained for 60 min.

Relationship between Mindfulness, Psychological Skills, and Mental Toughness in College Athletes.

Numerous studies have shown that dispositional mindfulness is positively associated with many mental abilities related to sports performance, including psychological skills and mental toughness. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between dispositional mindfulness, psychological skills, and mental toughness among different types of athletes. For this cross-sectional study, 101 college athletes were recruited. Their dispositional mindfulness, psychological skills, and mental toughness were measured by the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), Athletic Psychological Skills Inventory (APSI), and Traits of Mental Toughness Inventory for Sports Scale (TMTIS). Pearson's correlation was used to calculate how dispositional mindfulness is associated with psychological skills and mental toughness. The results revealed that dispositional mindfulness is positively associated with comprehensive APSI (r = 0.21-0.36, p < 0.05), TMTIS overall (r = 0.27, p < 0.01), positive effort (r = 0.26, p = 0.01), and pressure (r = 0.30, p < 0.01). These findings suggest a positive linkage between mindfulness and the two examined psychological characteristics related to sports performance. Other approaches to increase mindfulness may be considered in the future.

The Effects of Mindfulness-Based Intervention on Shooting Performance and Cognitive Functions in Archers.

This study investigated the effects of a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) called mindfulness-based peak performance (MBPP) on athletic performance and cognitive functions in archers, as well as the role of psychological status and the dose-response relationship of MBPP in archery performance. Twenty-three archers completed a simulated archery competition and the Stroop task prior to and after MBPP training, which consisted of eight sessions over four weeks, while the mindfulness and rumination levels of the archers were assessed at three time points, namely, before, at the mid-point of, and after the MBPP program. The results revealed that the MBPP program significantly improved the shooting performance (p = 0.002, d = 0.27), multiple cognitive functions (ps < 0.001, d = 0.51~0.71), and mindfulness levels of the archers on the post-test, compared to the pre-test (p = 0.032, η p 2 = 0.15 for general; p = 0.004, η p 2 = 0.22 for athletic). Additionally, negative ruminations level was decreased from the pre-test to the middle-test and post-test (ps < 0.001, η p 2 = 0.43). These findings provide preliminary evidence to support the view that MBPP could serve as a promising form of training for fine motor sport performance, cognitive functions, and specific psychological status, such that it warrants further study.

Mindfulness Training Enhances Endurance Performance and Executive Functions in Athletes: An Event-Related Potential Study.

Mindfulness interventions have been linked to improved sport performance and executive functions; however, few studies have explored the effects of mindfulness on sport performance and executive functions simultaneously. This study sought to examine whether a mindfulness training program would affect both the endurance performance and executive functions of athletes. In addition, event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with the Stroop task were assessed to investigate the potential electrophysiological activation associated with the mindfulness training. Applying a quasiexperimental design, forty-six university athletes were recruited and assigned into a five-week mindfulness training program or a waiting list control group. For each participant, the mindfulness level, endurance performance assessed by a graded exercise test, executive functions assessed via Stroop task, and N2 component of ERPs were measured prior to and following the 5-week intervention. After adjusting for the preintervention scores as a covariate, it was found that the postintervention mindfulness level, exhaustion time, and Stroop task accuracy scores, regardless of task condition, of the mindfulness group were higher than those of the control group. The mindfulness group also exhibited a smaller N2 amplitude than the control group. These results suggest that the five-week mindfulness program can enhance the mindfulness level, endurance performance, and multiple cognitive functions, including executive functions, of university athletes. Mindfulness training may also reduce conflict monitoring in neural processes.

Acute coordinative exercise ameliorates general and food-cue related cognitive function in obese adolescents.

Whether the acute coordinative exercise could affect the inhibitory control and food-cue related attention in obese adolescents remains understudied. Therefore, this study used the Stroop test and the food-cue related Stroop test to explore the impacts of 20 min of acute coordinative exercise on the cognitive tests involving inhibitory control and attentional bias towards food-cue related stimuli, respectively, in obese adolescents. Thirty-eight obese adolescents (mean age = 14.63 ± 0.69 years) were equally divided into exercise and control groups. The cognitive tests (i.e., the Stroop test and the food-cue related Stroop test) and hunger scores were conducted and assessed before and after an intervention. The exercise group had significantly larger negative pre-post response time difference in the congruent (-1.04 ± 0.29 ms) and incongruent (-5.76 ± 1.66 ms) conditions of the Stroop test than the control group (ps < 0.01), and a smaller post-interference (1.13 ± 0.14) than the pre-interference (1.31 ± 0.14, p = 0.04). Moreover, a significantly larger negative pre-post response time difference on the food-cue related Stroop test was observed in the exercise group (-4.42 ± 7.20 ms) than the control group (1.76 ± 8.37 ms, p = 0.02). Collectively, an acute coordinative exercise session could induce superior inhibitory control and less attentional bias towards food-cue related stimuli in obese adolescents.