Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 2012, 34, 766-786

© 2012 Human Kinetics, Inc.

Shifting the Focus From Quantitative to

Qualitative Exercise Characteristics in
Exercise and Cognition Research
Caterina Pesce
University of Rome “Foro Italico”

In exercise and cognition research, few studies have investigated whether and how
the qualitative aspects of physical exercise may impact cognitive performance in
the short or long term. This commentary, after recalling the evidence on the “dose-
response” relationship, shifts the focus to intersections between different research
areas that are proposed to shed light on how qualitative exercise characteristics
can be used to obtain cognitive benefits. As concerns the acute exercise area, this
commentary highlights the applied relevance of developmental and aging studies
investigating the effects of exercise bouts differing in movement task complexity
and cognitive demands. As regards the chronic exercise area, potential links to
research on cognitive expertise in sport, functional ability in aging, and life skills
training during development are discussed. “Gross-motor cognitive training” is
proposed as a key concept with relevant implications for intervention strategies
in childhood and older adulthood.

Keywords: acute exercise, chronic exercise, task complexity, executive function,

life skills

In the last decades, the research area labeled exercise and cognition has
experienced exponential growth. Early studies were characterized by a too gen-
eral approach to this relationship. First attempts to synthesize available evidence,
merging acute and chronic exercise studies, concluded that research was mainly
atheoretical and called for well-designed studies to help reduce ambiguity of
conclusions (Tomporowski & Ellis, 1986; Etnier et al., 1997). Later, exercise and
cognition research has been grounded in current theories of brain functioning and
attention has been narrowed to specific aspects of the exercise–cognition relation-
ship. Both acute and chronic exercise research show such trends toward specificity.
This allowed the identification of the selective nature of physical exercise effects on
cognition (Etnier & Chang, 2009) and potential mediators and moderators acting
on this relationship (Spirduso, Poon, & Chodzko-Zajko, 2008; Tomporowski, Lam-
bourne, & Okumura, 2011). (A mediator is a generator mechanism through which

Caterina Pesce is with the Department of Human Motion and Sport Science, University of Rome “Foro
Italico,” Rome, Italy.

766
 Qualitative Characteristics in Exercise and Cognition Research   767

physical exercise influences cognitive functions, whereas a moderator is a variable

that influences the direction and/or strength of the exercise–cognition relationship.)
In chronic exercise research, the hypothesized mediating mechanisms include
cardiovascular fitness, cerebral structure and circulation, and neurotrophic stimu-
lation (Etnier, 2009a; Hillman, Erickson & Kramer, 2008). Higher functional
connectivity in neural networks (Voss, Erickson, et al., 2010) and greater gray
matter volume in the prefrontal cortex (Weinstein et al., 2011) seem to mediate
the relationship between cardiovascular fitness and cognition, thus supporting the
existence of mediational chains (Etnier, 2008). In acute exercise research, main
putative mediators from a cognitive-psychological perspective are changes in
arousal and in resources allocatable to cognitive tasks, while from neuroscien-
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tific and psycho-physiological perspectives, the hypothesized mediators include

exercise-induced increases in catecholamines and neurotrophic factors (Audiffren,
2009; Dietrich, 2009; Ferris, Williams, & Shen, 2007; Lambourne & Tomporowski,
2010; McMorris, 2009).
Researchers have also identified the moderating role played by the features of
the physical exercise task, the type of cognitive performance, and the characteristics
of the participants. The most investigated exercise parameters are quantitative in
nature: in acute exercise research, they are intensity and duration of the exercise
bout, whereas in chronic exercise research, further relevant parameters are physical
training frequency and intervention length. The main differentiation in cognitive
performance assessed is between tasks tapping higher-level cognitive functions,
the executive, and nonexecutive tasks, with increasing interest for the first (Etnier
& Chang, 2009). Relevant individual characteristics moderating the acute exer-
cise–cognition relationship are age, gender, and physical fitness (Chang, Labban,
Gapin, & Etnier, 2012) and, even though less investigated, individual differences
in sport-specific cognitive expertise and motor coordination skills (Pesce, 2009).
In both acute and chronic exercise research, there has been a prevalent focus
on moderation or mediation accounted for by the “quantitative” parameters of the
physical exercise and its physiological consequences. This focus on quantitative
parameters likely reflects the predominant “medical” perspective from which
researchers generally examine dose-response relations between physical activity
and health outcomes to derive prescription guidelines (e.g., Bouchard, 2001; Lee,
2008). Recently, the position stand of the American College of Sports Medicine
(Garber et al., 2011) underlined the need for considering both quantity and quality
of exercise for health promotion. Nevertheless, evidence on the former still largely
prevails over the latter. The fact that the role played by “qualitative” exercise
aspects still remains underinvestigated may also be a consequence of the difficulty
in operationalizing the breadth of the exercise quality construct.
The qualitative characteristics of exercise are globally defined as exercise
type or mode (Garber et al., 2011). However, they represent a set of different non-
physical aspects of exercise tasks, including the cognitive or coordinative demands
inherent in movement and sport tasks at a greater or lesser degree. In exercise and
cognition research, exercise mode is still grossly considered as the type of activ-
ity performed (e.g., running vs. bicycling; Lambourne & Tomporowski, 2010)
or in terms of metabolic and neuromuscular demands (e.g., muscular strength/
resistance exercise vs. aerobic exercise; Voss et al., 2011). A qualitatively broader
range of physical exercise modes have been examined in developmental research
 768  Pesce

(e.g., aerobic, resistance, perceptual-motor training or their combination; Fedewa

& Ahn, 2011), but the frequent covariation of quantitative and qualitative exercise
features limits the possibility to differentiate their individual impact on cognition.
Therefore, it has been recently claimed (Hill et al., 2010) that we need to explore
whether exercise effects on cognition may differ as a function of the coordinative
and cognitive complexity of the movement tasks.
This commentary focuses on the need, in both acute and chronic exercise-
cognition research, to think beyond the framework of the quantitative parameters
of physical activity. There still is a paucity of evidence on whether and how the
qualitative aspects of physical exercise may impact cognition (e.g., Best, 2010;
Tomporowski, Davis, Miller, & Naglieri, 2008). The wide variability in how exercise
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quality can be defined is relevant to this issue because the specific definition used to
guide research influences the ability to further our understanding of the relationship
between exercise and cognition. To shed light on how physical exercise quality
can be exploited to reap cognitive benefits, we need to develop interdisciplinary
evidence intersecting different lines of research.

Quantitative Exercise Characteristics and

the Dose–Response Relationship
Acute Exercise Research
In acute exercise research, a main distinction is between “in-task” and “off-task”
exercise research in which physical exercise is concomitant with or antecedent to
cognitive task performance, respectively. In both cases, the quantitative parameters
of exercise and especially intensity have been manipulated to implicitly or explic-
itly test the dose–response relationship (e.g., Chang & Etnier, 2009). In an earlier
meta-analysis, Etnier et al. (1997) did not find any moderation of acute exercise
effects by exercise intensity. This lack of effect for intensity was confirmed in a
more recent meta-analysis of studies spanning from childhood to old adulthood, but
only when exercise bouts were concomitant with cognitive performance (Chang et
al., 2012). Instead, a positive effect for cognitive performance during steady-state
exercise, but a negative effect for incremental and fatiguing exercise, emerged
in a meta-analysis of young adult studies (Lambourne & Tomporowski, 2010).
These reviews suggest that the existing evidence does not generally support the
inverted-U hypothesis, according to which cognitive performance would improve
with increasing exercise intensity and exercise-induced arousal up to an optimal
point and then degrade with further arousal increments. Although individual studies
have supported the inverted-U hypothesis (e.g., Arent & Landers, 2003; Chmura,
Nazar, & Kaciuba-Uscilko, 1994), other studies suggest that the function describ-
ing the effect of exercise intensity on cognition varies depending on the type and
complexity of the cognitive functions measured, with moderate intensity being
most beneficial to executive function, whereas maximal and even supramaximal
intensities to processing and movement speed (Chang & Etnier, 2009; McMorris
et al., 2005). The hypothesis, related to the inverted-U function, that increments
in plasma catecholamine concentrations induced by increasing exercise dose
would have a direct effect on cognition (i.e., catecholamine hypothesis) was not
confirmed in a study by McMorris, Collard, Corbett, Dicks, and Swain (2008).
 Qualitative Characteristics in Exercise and Cognition Research   769

Consequently, McMorris (2009) proposed a more complex neuroendocrinological

model as a more appropriate framework to reconcile inconsistent findings on the
dose–response relationship.
The pattern of moderation by exercise intensity is different when the physical
exercise is antecedent to the cognitive task. Cognitive performance seems to be
facilitated by lower exercise intensities immediately after exercise, but by higher
intensities after a delay (Chang et al., 2012). The authors argued that different physi-
ological mechanisms may subtend the different ways in which intensity moderates
acute exercise effects at different times after the exercise bout.
Further theoretical approaches with potential implications in terms of a
dose–response relationship are resource allocation theories and cognitive-energetic
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models (Audiffren, 2009). They are grounded on the assumption that cognitive
performance is dependent on the allocation of energetical resources through mental
effort and that acute exercise influences brain systems responsible for such alloca-
tion. Acute exercise bouts seem to be responsible for more effective (Audiffren,
2009) or ineffective resource allocation (“hypofrontality hypothesis” by Dietrich,
2009) depending on the type, complexity, and timing of the cognitive task. Never-
theless, to date, no inference about a dose–response relationship is possible because
almost all studies of acute exercise effects on more complex cognitive tasks were
conducted only with intermediate exercise intensities (McMorris, Sproule, Turner,
& Hale, 2011).
Additionally, individual differences in fitness level seem to influence the
cognitive response to exercise dose. Etnier et al. (1997) had reported largest effect
size from the few studies combining acute and chronic exercise designs, which
suggested that physical fitness positively influences the response to higher exercise
doses (Pesce, 2009). This was confirmed by Chang et al. (2012): acute exercise
effects on concomitant cognitive performance of highly, moderately, or low fit
participants were positive, negligible, and negative, respectively. The advantage of
being physically fit seems to be limited to physical-cognitive dual tasking condi-
tions, since a different pattern of moderation or no moderation at all emerged when
cognitive performance was assessed after the exercise bout.
How efficiently the resources available during physical exercise are allocated
to an ongoing cognitive task may also depend on cognitive expertise acquired
through the practice of cognitively challenging sports (Pesce, 2009). For instance,
cognitively expert athletes showed higher psychomotor speed at higher exercise
intensities when performing both sport-specific (McMorris & Graydon, 1996) and
unspecific cognitive tasks (Delignières, Brisswalter, & Legros, 1994), whereas
cognitively less experienced athletes showed no dose–response relationship or an
opposite, decremental trend of psychomotor performance with increasing physical
exertion, respectively.

Chronic Exercise Research

In a systematic review, Etnier (2009b) asked if we have accumulated sufficient
evidence to be ready for physical activity programming targeted to obtain cogni-
tive benefits. She concluded that although we are ready to generally recommend
increasing physical activity levels, more research from a dose–response perspective
is needed to identify optimal exercise intensity, duration, and frequency. This call
for further research to gain insight into the dose–response relationship with regard
 770  Pesce

to quantitative parameters is present in aging literature (e.g., Kramer, Erickson, &

Colcombe, 2006), as well as in a recent developmental review (Singh, Uijtdewil-
ligen, Twisk, van Mechelen, & Chinapaw, 2012).
The existing evidence derives from noninterventional and interventional
prospective studies. Noninterventional, large-scale prospective studies have been
almost exclusively conducted with older adults to verify whether the quantity
of physical activity practiced, translating into a corresponding level of energy
expenditure (Middleton et al., 2011), and the individual physical fitness level
are predictive of less age-related cognitive decline over time (Etnier, 2009b). In
intervention research, the dose of physical activity has been manipulated in terms
of session duration (e.g., Davis et al., 2011), frequency of weekly sessions (e.g.,
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Liu-Ambrose, Nagamatsu, Voss, Khan, & Handy, 2011), and length of the training
program (e.g., Voss, Prakash, et al., 2010). More research with varying exercise
intensity is still needed, since intensity has been manipulated in covariation with
exercise type (e.g., aerobic training vs. stretching, Colcombe et al., 2004) mostly
in aging (Etnier, 2009b) and only rarely in developmental research (Davis et
al., 2011). Also, until recently, the dose–response relationship has been mainly
investigated by means of aerobic exercise interventions focused on the linkage
between aerobic exercise, cardiovascular fitness, and cognitive function (Hillman
et al., 2008). Nevertheless, growing evidence suggests that resistance training is
important for maintaining cognitive and brain health in aging, and this suggests
a need for the investigation of more differentiated types of exercise interventions
(Voss, Nagamatsu, Liu-Ambrose, & Kramer, 2011).
On the whole, conclusions about the dose–response relationship are rendered
difficult by the diverging evidence from noninterventional and interventional pro-
spective studies. Noninterventional prospective studies suggest that older adults
who maintain or increase physical activity intensity and duration over time do
not show the cognitive decline observed in co-aged individuals who reduce their
physical activity level (Etnier, 2009b). In contrast, intervention studies suggest
that moderate, not long exercise duration exerts optimal effects on cognition of
aging people (Colcombe & Kramer, 2003). However, this meta-analytic result may
be biased by the fact that the moderating role of exercise duration is not “pure,”
but may partially overlap with other moderators acting on the exercise–cognition
relationship (Etnier, 2009b).
A further divergence regards the associations between physical activity, fitness
level, and cognitive functioning. According to noninterventional prospective studies,
higher levels of physical activity and cardiovascular fitness are predictive of higher
cognitive efficiency in old (Middleton et al., 2011) and young adulthood (Åberg et
al., 2009). A large amount of interventional aging studies, commonly employing
aerobic exercise training, entail the assumption that gains in aerobic fitness would
mediate the cognitive benefits observed after a period of physical training (i.e.,
cardiovascular fitness hypothesis). However, this mediation hypothesis is primar-
ily grounded on piecemeal evidence regarding physical activity effects on aerobic
fitness and aerobic fitness effects on cognitive functioning (Etnier, 2009b). Both
recent empirical studies (e.g., Smiley-Oyen, Lowry, Francois, Kohut, & Ekkeka-
kis, 2008) and meta-analytic reviews failed to give support to the cardiovascular
fitness hypothesis in the general (Etnier et al., 2006) and in the aging population
(Angevaren, Aufdemkampe, Verhaar, Aleman, & Vanhees, 2008). Chronic participa-
 Qualitative Characteristics in Exercise and Cognition Research   771

tion in physical activity per se, independently of exercise-induced improvements

in aerobic fitness, might be responsible for such benefits. These divergences call
for research aimed to clarify the specific nature of exercise effects on cognition to
understand the mechanisms underlying dose–response relations (Etnier, 2009b).

Extending the Notion of a Dose–Response Relationship

Recently, exercise and cognition researchers have started investigating the effects
of exercise modes different from aerobic, but evidence is still scarce in both chronic
(except see Voss et al., 2011) and acute exercise research (except see Chang & Etnier,
2009; Pontifex, Hillman, Fernhall, Thompson, & Valentini, 2009). Intriguing aging
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studies allow extending the notion of selectivity of exercise effects on cognition

from aerobic exercise (e.g., Smiley-Oyen et al., 2008) to resistance training (Liu-
Ambrose et al., 2011), mind–body exercises (Matthews, & Williams, 2008), and
coordination training (Voelcker-Rehage, Godde, & Staudinger, 2011). The latter
neurophysiological findings suggest that aerobic and coordinative training improve
cognition through different underlying mechanisms. Further, as concerns the ben-
eficial effects of mind–body exercises on cognition, potential mediators different
from aerobic fitness gains, such as physical resources (e.g., sleep effectiveness),
mental resources (e.g., self-efficacy), and disease states (e.g., hypertension) have
been suggested on the basis of indirect evidence (Chang, Nien, Tsai, & Etnier, 2010).
This supports the hypothesis that cardiovascular fitness gains or other metabolic
or neurochemical mechanisms influencing the integrity of the neural “hardware”
may not be the only mediators of physical exercise effects on cognitive functioning.
Exercise-related cognitive benefits may also be due to neural stimulation by the
coordinative and cognitive complexity of the movement tasks, which influences
the efficiency of the brain “software” (Davis et al., 2011). However, the major
limitation of the evidence from multicomponent interventions joining physical
and “mindfulness” activities is that information to control for intensity, frequency,
duration, or intervention length is scarce. Therefore, to gain new insights into the
exercise–cognition relationship, it is necessary to integrate research on the role
played by exercise intensity, duration, and frequency with novel research focusing
on qualitative, nonphysical characteristics of exercise tasks.
Furthermore, recent acute exercise research showed diverging results on
whether the coordinative and cognitive complexity of the exercise task is beneficial
to cognitive function (Budde, Voelcker-Rehage, Pietraßyk-Kendziorra, Ribeiro, &
Tidow, 2008; Pesce, Crova, Cereatti, Casella, & Bellucci, 2009) or not (Gallotta
et al., 2011; O’Leary, Pontifex, Scudder, Brown, & Hillman, 2011). Apart from
methodological differences that are addressed later, these divergences might be
reconciled by controlling whether the “dose” of coordinative and cognitive demands
of the physical exercise task moderates the effect of exercise on cognition also
accounting for age and individual skill level. The notion of dose and response
should therefore be extended from the research line centered on the moderating role
of exercise intensity, duration, and frequency to the novel line focused on the role
played by the coordinative and cognitive complexity of the physical exercise task.
The coordinative and cognitive task requirements can be embedded into the
theoretical framework proposed by Wood (1986) in the general study of tasks as
factors individually and jointly contributing to overall task complexity. In fact, he
 772  Pesce

proposed to combine the frameworks of (1) “task as behavior requirements” and (2)
“task qua task,” providing a feasible operationalization of tasks as (1) behavioral
responses involving motor activities and/or cognitive processes and (2) patterns of
stimuli impinging on the individual. The relationship between behavioral responses
and stimulus complex for a task represents a type of task complexity that can be
operationalized manipulating the coordinative and cognitive task requirements.

Thinking Beyond the Framework of Intensity,

Duration, and Frequency
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The Role of Physical Task Complexity in “In-Task” Exercise

Research: Evidence From Motor-Cognitive Dual Task Studies
Dual task methods in which a cognitive task is performed simultaneously with a
task requiring motor activity may help understand whether a qualitative aspect of
movement tasks—their coordinative complexity—impacts cognition. This issue
has been investigated by both acute exercise researchers (Brisswalter et al., 2002)
and motor coordination researchers (Monno, Temprado, Zanone, & Laurent,
2002), but with different foci of interest. Acute exercise researchers (reviewed in
Brisswalter et al., 2002) have manipulated the movement execution frequency (i.e.,
pedaling rate) focusing on whether the different energetic demands of different
frequencies influence a concomitant cognitive performance. Because, however,
physical exercise bouts of similar intensity elicited diverging effects on cogni-
tion depending on whether movement execution frequency was externally paced
or freely chosen, Davranche and Audiffren (2004) argued that the freely chosen
execution frequency had the cognitive advantage to require lower demands on
attentional monitoring.
Conversely, motor coordination researchers have jointly manipulated qualita-
tive (coordination mode, frequency) and quantitative (intensity, duration) aspects
of the movement tasks to evaluate the mental costs of motor coordination (e.g.,
Murian, Deschamps, & Temprado, 2008). Both exercise and cognition research-
ers (Davranche & Audiffren, 2004) and motor coordination researchers (Zanone,
Kostrubiec, Albaret, & Temprado, 2010) have pointed out that individual differ-
ences in motor coordination skills moderate the effects of physical exercise on a
concomitant cognitive performance (Pesce, 2009). These commonalities suggest
that an integrative approach might help further our understanding of the role played
by the qualitative characteristics of physical exercise tasks.
The interplay between concomitant motor and cognitive tasks related to one’s
individual skills acquires practical relevance in aging. In fact, everyday life situations
often require the simultaneous performance of multiple motor-cognitive tasks, but
age-related losses of both interlimb coordination and attentional control resources
challenge the ability to cope with such situations (Schaefer & Schumacher, 2011).
An issue of debate is whether older people prioritize motor control by withdrawing
capacity-limited resources from a concomitant cognitive task or, vice versa, prefer
protecting cognitive functioning by “paying” with some motor control resources.
Prioritizing the motor domain seems to apply to older adults (Li, Lindenberger,
Freund, & Baltes, 2001) as well as to children (Schaefer, Krampe, Lindenberger,
& Baltes, 2008) when highly demanding maintenance of balance and functional
 Qualitative Characteristics in Exercise and Cognition Research   773

locomotion is required (“posture first” hypothesis). There is also counterintuitive

evidence that motor-cognitive dual task situations may lead to performance incre-
ments in older adults up to a given level of cognitive effort (Huxhold, Li, Schmiedek,
& Lindenberger, 2006). The interpretation proposed for these findings (i.e., “dual-
process account”), is that a low-difficult concurrent cognitive task may induce an
external attentional focus allowing the motor system to better self-organize, while
with increasing cognitive task difficulty, performance would be worsened by an
excessive withdrawal of resources from motor control.

The Role of Physical Task Complexity in “Off-Task”

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Acute Exercise Research: Evidence From Ecological

and Laboratory Studies
Physical task complexity has been considered in “off-task” acute exercise research,
in which cognitive performance was measured following exercise. However, only
a few studies, discussed in this section, have controlled for equality in exercise
intensity and duration (see Best, 2010 for a review). Budde et al. (2008) compared
the effects of coordinatively more or less complex aerobic exercise bouts on execu-
tive attention of adolescents in the school setting and found more pronounced
benefits after the more complex exercise task. Gallotta et al. (2011) extended
this test protocol to preadolescent children and compared the effects of a tradi-
tional or a coordinatively enriched physical education lesson, but found benefits
only in the case of the traditional lesson. Budde et al. (2008) interpreted their
results in terms of facilitation of neuronal networks involved in complex motor
coordination, while Gallotta et al. (2011) referred to older theories of exercise
as a stressor and argued that the coordinatively engaging exercise mode would
elicit excessive increases in arousal translating to poorer attentional performance.
Also, O’Leary et al. (2011), in a study conducted with adults in a laboratory,
found that a cognitively high-engaging bout of aerobic exercise (a virtual reality
game involving physical activity, or “exergaming”) did not facilitate attentional
performance, whereas simple treadmill running did. Nevertheless, the differ-
ent age class and experimental conditions make it difficult to provide a cogent
explanation of these results.
A means through which the qualitative, nonphysical demands of a physical
exercise task can be quantified to identify the appropriate “dose” of physical task
complexity to gain cognitive benefits is to categorize motor behaviors based on
standardized observation systems (e.g., Rink, 2006). Such classification was pro-
vided in only one study with preadolescents aimed at investigating the after-effects
of qualitatively different physical education lessons (team sport games vs. circuit
training) on memory recall performance (Pesce et al., 2009). On the one side, the
results confirmed the general arousing effect of acute exercise that translates into
better memory performance independently of the type of physical exercise tasks.
On the other side, they showed that team games caused additional memory recall
benefits. This is presumably due to the cognitive challenges inherent in the group
interactions and strategic application of motor skills that were more frequently
observed in team sport games than in circuit training. These kinds of findings sug-
gest that the qualitative characteristics of sport activities may represent a relevant
factor impacting on the exercise–cognition relationship.
 774  Pesce

Crossing Chronic Exercise and Cognitive

Expertise Research
Cross-sectional chronic exercise research and sport expertise research have devel-
oped on separate tracks with different basic and applied research purposes. Chronic
exercise researchers mainly focus on the search for biophysiological mediators
underlying physical activity effects on cognition and on the applied relevance for
promoting healthy brain development and aging (e.g., Colcombe et al., 2004; Tom-
porowski et al., 2011). Sport expertise researchers, instead, are primarily interested
in perceptual-cognitive expertise and in the identification of the mediating mecha-
nisms that account for expert performance with the aim to detail how to promote
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their development in sports training (e.g., Mann, Williams, Ward, & Janelle, 2007;
Moran, 2009). A further difference is the level of domain generality/specificity of
the observed impact on cognitive functioning. Chronic exercise research has mainly
shown beneficial exercise effects on domain-general, high-level cognition and par-
ticularly on executive function (e.g., Etnier & Chang, 2009). In contrast, the “expert
performance approach” has highlighted that extensive sport practice is associated
with superior performance on tasks embodying domain-relevant constraints and
requiring sport-specific cognition (Williams & Ericcson, 2005). This supports the
narrow transfer hypothesis, suggesting that individuals who are experienced in
activities such as team sports only differ from inexperienced people in cognitive
skills that are relevant to their field (Furley & Memmert, 2011). A minority of stud-
ies belonging to the “cognitive component skills approach” (Voss, Kramer, Basak,
Prakash, & Roberts, 2010, p. 813), in contrast, suggest that skilled athletes practic-
ing strategic sports may have superior performance also on sport-unspecific tasks
requiring fundamental cognitive abilities (e.g., Pesce, Cereatti, Casella, Baldari,
& Capranica, 2007; Vestberg, Gustafson, Maurex, Ingvar, & Petrovic, 2012). This
supports the broad transfer hypothesis, suggesting that practice in a specific activity
can also lead to adaptations in basic cognitive abilities that are therefore transfer-
able to other domains (Furley & Memmert, 2011).
Despite these differences, chronic exercise and sport expertise research areas
also show intriguing commonalities. A novel line of individual difference research
is emerging at their intersection point with the aim to explore the interplay between
cognitive skill and physical fitness outcomes of habitual participation in strategic
sports (Voss, Kramer, et al., 2010). Chan, Wong, Liu, Yu, and Yan (2011) investigated
the efficiency of cognitive inhibitory functions in individuals differing in sport-
related cognitive expertise (fencers vs. nonfencers) and physical fitness level (high-
fit vs. average-fit) and found that inhibition was best in high-fit fencers. However,
the most interesting result for the aim of the present discussion is that average-fit
fencers and average-fit nonfencers did not show cognitive performance differences.
Speculatively, there may be a threshold for the biophysiological mechanisms
mediating physical exercise effects on cognition below which the exploitation of
the mechanisms mediating expertise effects on cognition is not possible, or at least
not optimal. This fits with the hypothesis, derived from animal studies, that physi-
cal exercise would increase neural activity in specific brain structures (Anderson,
McCloskey, Mitchell, & Tata, 2009) and prepare the potential for neurogenesis
that can be better exploited if exposed to cognitive enrichment (Fabel et al., 2009).
Cognitive task complexity and diversification of motor activities are forms
of enrichment whose relevance has been recognized also in developmental sport
 Qualitative Characteristics in Exercise and Cognition Research   775

expertise research. Studies analyzing the physical activity and sport background
of top-level athletes practicing team/racket sports indicated a history of early
diversification during the developmental years that, particularly when including
other mentally demanding sports, augmented the cognitive skills necessary in the
primary sport (Baker, 2003). In addition, those athletes who spent more time in
diversified, unstructured play activities in early youth showed more pronounced
skills in sport-specific creative thinking (Memmert, Baker, & Bertsch, 2010).
Therefore, there seems to be a transfer of cognitive skills to sport-specific tasks
coming from unspecific and diversified activities. To exploit the potential of sports
training for promoting cognitive efficiency in the general, developing, and aging
population, we also need interventional evidence of a “cross-training” effect in
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the opposite direction.

Merging Physical and Cognitive Training Into

Gross-Motor Cognitive Training
In aging research, both earlier (e.g., Tomporowski, 1997) and recent (e.g., Jak,
2011) reviews testify to an interest for both physical and cognitive training effects
on cognitive efficiency. Unfortunately, most of these studies employed either physi-
cal or cognitive training interventions that did not combine physical and cognitive
activities, as evidenced in the narrative reviews by Schaefer and Schumacher (2011)
and Thom and Clare (2011). The rare studies employing combined training showed
that it induced greater benefits than either physical or cognitive training in isolation
(Fabre, Chamari, Mucci, Massé-Biron, & Préfault, 2002; Oswald, Gunzelmann,
Rupprecht, & Hagen, 2006). Combined cognitive-motor interventions of very
short length seem to benefit the cognitive functioning of aging people, but those
benefits have not been contrasted with the effects of separate physical or cognitive
training interventions (Benloucif et al., 2004; Small et al., 2006). Moreover, all
these studies combined physical and cognitive training only in sequential fashion.
Instead, Schaefer and Schumacher (2011) have described a sound experimental
design to compare the effectiveness of physical and cognitive training programs
in single fashion, or combined in counterbalanced order, or merged in the form of
integrated physical-cognitive dual tasks (e.g., verbal working memory tasks while
walking on a treadmill). Anderson-Hanley et al. (2012) recently demonstrated better
cognitive outcomes of stationary cycling with virtual reality tours than traditional
exercising of similar effort and fitness outcomes. Positive cognitive outcomes have
also been obtained through coordination training (Voelcker-Rehage et al., 2011)
and nonaerobic movement-based activity programs challenging attentional and
mnemonic processes (e.g., Yágüez, Shaw, Morris, & Matthews, 2011). A further
promising perspective is that proposed by Chang et al. (2010), who reviewed the
literature on the effects of Tai Chi Chuan, a type of mind–body physical activity
joining the characteristics and mindfulness of the martial arts and the philosophy
of Tai Chi, on cognitive function in aging.
These findings suggest that the engagement of cognitive functions during physi-
cal activity, that is, a sort of “gross-motor cognitive training,” can be an important
factor for old people to obtain cognitive benefits. In cognitive training research, there
is increasing evidence that tasks demanding executive coordination of skills train
cognitive control abilities that transfer to more remote domains (Hertzog, Kramer,
Wilson, & Lindenberger, 2009; Zelinski, 2009). This suggests that gross-motor
 776  Pesce

cognitive training should be specifically shaped to challenge executive functions

by movement. Thom and Clare (2011) and Voss et al. (2011) claimed that also
clinically significant outcomes, such as functional mobility and quality of life,
should be included to bridge the gaps between neuroscientific, behavioral, and
clinical gerontology. Recent evidence showed that multicomponent cognitive-motor
interventions combining strength, balance, and complex coordinative exercises
can improve step execution under single- and dual-task conditions in older adults
(Pichierri, Coppe, Lorenzetti, Murer, & de Bruin, 2012). Future research should
investigate what qualitative exercise characteristics specifically promote executive
function improvements and to what extent the latter translate into functional ability,
that is, the ability to safely and effectively perform daily tasks and commonly refers
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to gross lower limb locomotor task performances. This kind of clinical intervention
research may have relevant implications for practitioners involved in promoting
late-life mobility and independence.
In a developmental review, Best (2010) proposed that, apart from the bio-
physiological changes induced in the brain by the metabolic demands of physical
activity, there may be at least two further pathways by which physical activity
impacts high-level cognition: the cognitive effort required to perform complex
movement tasks and the cognitive demands inherent in mindfulness and open-skill
sport practices. Interesting intervention studies involving the manipulation of the
cognitive task demands have been conducted in youth sports training to promote
children’s creativity. It emerged that diversified sport enrichment programs led to
the development of sport-relevant creative thinking and that individual differences
in giftedness moderated the intervention effects (Memmert, 2006). The degree of
transferability of creative thinking skills acquired through sports training is still
unclear. The available evidence supports the notion of transfer between different
subdomains (i.e., between various team/racket sports, Memmert & Roth, 2007),
but not that of transfer to general creative thinking (Memmert, 2011). This type
of research has the merit to provide a unique basis for a convergence of expertise
and creativity research. Moreover, there seems to be a complex interplay between
creativity in thought and action and executive function (Scibinetti, Tocci, & Pesce,
2011). Thus, the creativity construct represents a potentially relevant intersection
point between research on cognitive sport expertise and research on the qualitative
characteristics of exercise affecting high-level cognition.
Further evidence on the relevance of qualitative exercise characteristics derives
from studies on coordinative complexity and cognitive effort in motor skill learning
(Carey, Bhatt, & Nagpal, 2005). The cognitive effort needed to cope with complex
learning tasks seems to be essential to produce the neuroplastic changes underlying
skillful motor performance. Since physical exercise is composed of movement-
based tasks, a way to reap large cognitive benefits from physical training might
be that of maintaining a sufficiently high degree of coordinative task complexity
and novelty relative to age and skill level. Motor learning has been explained in
terms of stage-like progression toward automaticity and autonomy that begins with
a cognitive stage requiring mental engagement (Schmidt & Wrisberg, 2004). To
promote cognitive development, it has been therefore proposed to employ move-
ment games that keep children “on the learning curve” and to exploit criteria of
variability of practice in motor learning placing cognitive demands on learners,
such as contextual interference (Tomporowski, McCullick, & Horvat, 2010). This
 Qualitative Characteristics in Exercise and Cognition Research   777

proposal is based on the potential of action to affect cognitive development (Rakison

& Woodward, 2008), especially during the sensitive periods in the development
of brain structures subtending high-level cognitive function (executive function)
(Thomas & Johnson, 2008).

Bridging Gross-Motor Training of Executive Functions

and Life Skills Training
Since executive functions are cognitive prerequisites of self-control, behavioral
adaptability, and academic achievement, they have received much attention in
developmental research (Garon, Bryson, & Smith, 2008; Huizinga, Dolan, & van
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der Molen, 2006). A relevant review of interventions aiding executive function

development (Diamond & Lee, 2011) highlighted that both computerized cognitive
training and aerobic physical exercise can be effective approaches already in early
education. Based on this evidence, Kubesch and Walk (2009) have developed an
intriguing playful program of integrated physical-cognitive training for children.
Future research should investigate what types of movement-based games are
appropriate according to the differential developmental trajectories of the diverse
executive functions (Garon et al., 2008; Huizinga et al., 2006). Manipulating the
“dose” of coordinative and cognitive demands can help identify what are optimal
challenge points during childhood. Executive functions must be continually chal-
lenged to promote improvements. Children who perform the same activities, but
do not experience challenge because there are no increments in task difficulty, do
not gain in executive functioning (Diamond & Lee, 2011).
Gross-motor training of executive functions differs from computerized training
in that cognitive challenges are embedded into physically and socially engaging play-
ful activities. This is an advantage, since to improve executive functions, focusing
narrowly on either cognitive stimulation or physical activity in isolation seems not
to be as effective as when cognitive, physical, emotional, and social development
are addressed jointly. This is one of the relevant conclusions drawn by Diamond and
Lee (2011) when synthesizing evidence from the different approaches employed to
aid executive function development. This advantage of movement-based multicom-
ponent interventions involving self-regulation training and mindfulness practices
to promote cognitive functioning has been highlighted not only in developmental
research, but also in aging research evaluating the effectiveness of multidomain
mind–body practices (Chang et al., 2010; Wayne & Kaptchuk, 2008). One of the
most intriguing developmental studies is that performed by Lakes and Hoyt (2004),
who showed that tae-kwon-do training caused greater gains in children’s executive
functions than standard physical education and such gains generalized to multiple
contexts. According to Diamond and Lee (2011), several aspects of the tae-kwon-do
intervention may have led to such cognitive benefits. First, it joined cognitive (self-
regulation, inhibition) and affective (quitting/persevering) demands. Second, the
program addressed several executive function components that were continuously
stimulated with challenge incrementing—a necessary condition to obtain executive
function gains. Third, it included questions to the children (i.e., inquiry teaching
strategy) promoting self-monitoring and goal setting that are typical for life skills
training strategies. Therefore, this type of multicomponent intervention merged—even
though implicitly—gross-motor training of executive functions and life skills training.
 778  Pesce

The World Health Organization (1994) has described life skills as intra- and
interpersonal skills, including creativity, empathy, interpersonal relationship skills,
and goal-setting skills that enable individuals to self-regulate behaviors and deal
effectively and adaptively with everyday life demands. Therefore, life skills training
is recommended as an effective means to enhance self-regulatory competence and
reduce risk behaviors in youths. A relevant commonality of life skills and executive
functions is that both play a key role in behavioral self-regulation. The latter in turn
has cognitive and emotional components with a common substrate in the frontal
lobe, which is also the primary substrate of executive functions (Posner, Rothbart,
Sheese, & Tang, 2007). This commonality, however, still remains unconsidered in
sport and exercise research. One reason for this lack of integration may be that life
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skills interventions are grounded on psycho-social and social-cognitive theories

different from the theoretical underpinnings of exercise and cognition research.
Sports training and physical education have been shown to be appropriate
environments for life skills training with positive sport performance outcomes
(Danish, Hodge, Heke, & Taylor, 2003; Goudas, 2010). An outlook for future
research on life skills training through sport calls for studies designed to identify
theoretical explanations for life skills development (Gould & Carson, 2008), but
does not mention the potential interrelation between executive functions and life
skills development. On the other side, there are not yet developmental interven-
tion studies aimed at testing the benefits of sports for executive functions. Life
skills training programs may offer a basis to shape sport-based programs that aid
executive function development. In fact, such life skills as goal setting, planning,
and problem solving, which are obviously linked to executive function and have
the potential to enhance performance both in sport and in other settings, have been
successfully taught with movement-based and sport-based life skill programs
(Goudas, Dermitzaki, Leondari & Danish, 2006; Goudas & Giannoudis, 2008).
Future research should investigate the benefits that might be obtained by integrat-
ing cognitively challenging physical exercise and life skills training in sports and
physical education settings.

Conclusions
This commentary aimed at offering new suggestions for research that can further
our understanding of the exercise–cognition relationship and its implications for
physical activity and sports practice. The key point is that we need to complement
research on the moderating role of the quantitative characteristics of physical exer-
cise with novel research investigating the role of its qualitative characteristics, such
as coordinative complexity and cognitive demands. This issue has been examined
here from theoretical and applied perspectives on both acute and chronic exercise
effects.
In acute exercise research applying the dual task methodology, intersections
with motor coordination research can help understand the role played by the coor-
dinative complexity of physical exercise tasks. This issue has practical implications
for aging people, since age-related losses of motor coordination and cognitive
control challenge their dual-tasking ability. The role of physical task complexity in
the exercise–cognition relationship also emerges from developmental research on
the after-effects of acute exercise with relevant implications for learning contexts.
 Qualitative Characteristics in Exercise and Cognition Research   779

As concerns chronic exercise research, intersections with sport expertise

research can offer insights into the interplay between physical fitness and cogni-
tive expertise outcomes of sport participation. The commentary also focuses on the
cognitive benefits deriving from training interventions that integrate coordinative
and cognitive challenges into physical fitness training.
A new concept of “gross-motor cognitive training” shaped to challenge execu-
tive function by movement is proposed and discussed referring to emerging evi-
dence from aging and developmental intervention studies. In youth sports research,
intriguing studies joining expertise and creativity research provide a unique basis to
develop research on how the qualitative characteristics of exercise affect high-level
cognition. Useful insights can also derive from motor learning research dealing with
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task complexity and cognitive effort. In educational research, the most promising
perspective is that of multifaceted interventions that aid executive function develop-
ment, joining cognitive, physical, and affective demands. This holistic perspective
suggests potential links between gross-motor training of executive functions and
life skills training through sport and physical education.
In conclusion, gross-motor cognitive training represents a potential means
to capitalize on the cognitive benefits of participation in physically effortful and
mentally engaging activities. The related challenge will be to identify what “dose”
of coordinative and cognitive demands of physical tasks is appropriate to reach
the optimal challenge point and gain greatest cognitive benefits according to age
and individual skill level. An integrative view on the qualitative and quantitative
characteristics of physical exercise training aiding executive function development
and maintenance represents a key element for an evidence-based model of quality
physical activity to inform policy development.

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Manuscript submitted: February 17, 2012

Revision accepted: August 16, 2012
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