1. Once the five minutes were up, the subject then took an eleven- minute break in which they could ask questions. When the eleven minutes were up they were then asked to repeat as many words as they could recall. The subjects were given a day and time to come in for day two of the study. When the subjects arrive for Day Two, they were given a heart rate monitor to strap around their chest so that their heart rate could be tracked throughout the test. Then, they were asked to memorize a different list of words from the Rey Auditory-Learning Test and given five minutes. When the five minutes were up they headed to the treadmill where the necessary equipment shown on Day One was given to each subject. After a three minute warm up, the Bruce Protocol was started and their heart rate was taken every minute. At the end of the third minute the speed and grade on the treadmill was increased. A thumbs up meant that the subject was doing okay on the treadmill while a thumbs down or shaking of the hand meant that the subject had reached maximal exhaustion and had to stop the test. After the subjects gave the final hand signal, their equipment was taken off and they had a five-minute active recovery period. The subjects were then asked to recall as many words as possible. When they could no longer remember any additional words, the study was concluded. PHYSICAL STRESS ON THE BODY USING A VO2 MAX TEST AND ITS EFFECTS ON SHORT-TERM MEMORY IN MALE STUDENTS Results (cont’d) Results Methods Methods (cont’d) Purpose Conclusion Author: Kimberly Alvarez Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Judy Wilson, Ph.D. Cardiovascular Research Laboratory, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX Introduction The purpose of this study was to determine if an exercise test to maximal exhaustion would be better at improving cognitive function in active male students than sitting with no intervention. For this study, eight males (M; age 23 + 2.83 yrs; wt. 77.15 + 9.92 kg; ht. 172.7+ 2.82 cm.) of the UTA Kinesiology department, volunteered to participate in this study. Once recruited, the subjects were given a consent form to sign and return on day one of the study. Each subject reported to the Exercise Science Research Laboratories in the MAC on Day One and returned their form. They were given an overview of what a VO 2 maximal exercise test was. They were shown all of the equipment necessary for the test, which include a headpiece, a nose clip and a mouthpiece, which is attached to the metabolic cart. The protocol that was used for the exercise test was the Bruce Protocol performed on a treadmill. This protocol involved stages where the speed and grade increased every three minutes. After the overview of day two was given the subject was asked to have a seat. A list of words from the Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning test, which contained fifteen nouns, was given to the subject who then had exactly five minutes to memorize the list. The subjects’ height and weight were 77.15 ± 9.9 kg and 172 ± 8.8 cm. Pre- memorization of words for Day One and Day Two were both 15 ± 0 and there was no significant difference (p > 0.05). However, the difference in the post-memorization of words on Day One (14 + 0.76) and Day Two (10.88 ± 3.14) was statistically significant (p = 0.010). Table 1: Demographics Table 2: Day 1 Pre and Post Words Memorized Table 3: Day 2 Pre and Post Words Memorized Table 4: Day 1 and Day 2 Post Word Memorization The results of this study indicate that a test to exhaustion had a negative effect on cognitive function. This may be due to the level of physical stress placed on the body resulting in an inability to focus on the words previously memorized. With no intervention during the interval on Day One, subjects may have been able to focus on the words memorized which they were not able to do on Day Two. Using another type of diversion in addition to exercise may help in determining what might affect cognitive function. Research shows that rhythmic exercise changes in serotonin, epinephrine, norepinephrine and acetylcholine levels all affect cortical arousal and cognitive function (Potter & Keele, 2005). There are many reasons why the brain is affected during exercise. Some of these include: increased glucose, oxygen and nutrient levels to the brain. Exercise has been shown to enhance cognitive function in both short and long term memory. However, when the body is put under a large amount of physical stress, less oxygen is left in the brain due to the fact that the muscles require more of that oxygen and glucose. Does this affect cognitive function?