Predicting Cognitive Performance Under Physical Exertion

Optimal Soldier performance requires the coordination of sensory and cognitive systems that mediate both the extraction of information critical to achieving mission objectives and adaptation to unforeseen adversity. While strides have been made toward understanding how these cognitive abilities operate when the brain is in a sedentary state, such models generalize poorly to Soldiers who predominantly are in a state of physical exertion. Importantly, there is a need to develop a predictive model of cognitive performance across a range of domains as a function of an acute bout of physical exercise. With this in mind, we seek to create a meta-analytic tool that integrates information from past meta-analyses, directly tests the probability an exercise protocol either enhances, impedes, or has no influence on cognition, and quantifies the amount of uncertainty around predictive outcomes. We are in the process of completing a systematic literature review, having searched for previous studies that have investigated the effects of acute physical activity on cognitive performance in young, cognitively normal adults. The search included experimental studies that investigated the effects of physical exercise, physical activity, physical exertion, or physical fatigue on ten cognitive domains. Our search identified 14,597 peer reviewed journal articles. At the moment, 150 of these studies have satisfied our criterion to be included in the meta-analysis. This number of included studies is over three times what has been included in previous meta-analyses focused on the interaction between exercise and cognition. From these screened articles, we are in the process of extracting or computing effect sizes, which will be included in a Bayesian meta-regression to determine the overall influence of physical exertion on cognition and potential moderators (e.g., age, heart rate).

The project intends to inform software with the capacity to predict Soldier-relevant cognitive outcomes from a variety of physical intensities, durations and domains to be used by scientists, engineers, trainers, and Army leaders. Such a predictive model will allow trainers and leaders the opportunity to mitigate risks associated with cognitive decrements on and off the battlefield as a direct result of physical fatigue.