the relationships among aerobic activity, impulse control, and distractibility

106 Pages·2015·1.34 MB·English

by  Aaron Landau

ABSTRACT
THE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG AEROBIC ACTIVITY,
IMPULSE CONTROL, AND DISTRACTIBILITY
Executive functioning is an umbrella term defined as certain processes that
organize behavior, things like logic, reasoning, abstract thinking, problem solving,
planning, and carrying out goal-directed behavior and includes the constructs impulse
control and distractibility. Although research findings have become more consistent,
demonstrating a relationship between exercise and cognitive functioning, impulse
control and distractibility studies have typically been done with children and consisted
of samples of individuals with ADHD. This study explored, in a healthy, non-clinical
college-age population, the difference in levels of impulse control and distractibility
between those who are sedentary versus those who engage in aerobic exercise. It was
predicted that college-age adults who report regularly engaging in moderate to
vigorous aerobic exercise three times a week or more will have better scores on a
distractibility set-shifting task and better scores on an impulse control stop-signal task
compared to those who are sedentary. Participants were assigned to either the
sedentary group or exercise group determined by their self-reported level of physical
activity. Those who were assigned to the exercise group journaled their exercise
activity for 3 weeks to ensure a frequency, volume, and intensity that would
categorize them as being moderate to highly physically active. A Multivariate
Analysis of Variance showed no significant difference between the two groups
(exercise vs. sedentary) among the dependent variables of distractibility response
time, distractibility accuracy, impulse control response time, and impulse control
accuracy. Post-hoc analyses using a one-tailed hypothesis showed a significant
difference between groups on their scores and reaction time on the set-shifting task
(raw score p = .03, reaction time p = .03).
Aaron Landau
December 2015

THE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG AEROBIC ACTIVITY,
IMPULSE CONTROL, AND DISTRACTIBILITY

by
Aaron Landau

A thesis
submitted in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Arts in Kinesiology
in the College of Health and Human Services
California State University, Fresno
December 2015
APPROVED
For the Department of Kinesiology:

We, the undersigned, certify that the thesis of the following student
meets the required standards of scholarship, format, and style of the
university and the student's graduate degree program for the
awarding of the master's degree.

Aaron Landau
Thesis Author

Dawn Lewis (Chair) Kinesiology

Catherine Jackson Kinesiology

Karl Oswald Psychology

For the University Graduate Committee:

Dean, Division of Graduate Studies
AUTHORIZATION FOR REPRODUCTION
OF MASTER’S THESIS

X I grant permission for the reproduction of this thesis in part or in
its entirety without further authorization from me, on the
condition that the person or agency requesting reproduction
absorbs the cost and provides proper acknowledgment of
authorship.

Permission to reproduce this thesis in part or in its entirety must
be obtained from me.

Signature of thesis author:
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would not have been able to complete this thesis without the help and
support of my committee members, friends, and family.

First, I would like to thank my committee chair, Dr. Dawn Lewis, for all
her patience while working with me. My writing was able to develop and improve
considerably because of all the care she gave in editing each draft so thoroughly.
She also spent a substantial amount of time with me in weekly meetings which I
greatly appreciate. Additionally, I would like to thank my other two committee
members, Dr. Catherine Jackson and Dr. Karl Oswald, for the guidance they
provided and the time they spent helping me with this thesis.

Also, I need to thank Alexi and Zack for all their support through this
process. All the fun times we had together definitely eased a lot of stress. Lastly, I
want thank my mother and my sister for all their support and love.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................. vii
LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................... viii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................ 1
Research Questions ........................................................................................... 4
Research Hypotheses ........................................................................................ 5
Significance ....................................................................................................... 5
Delimitations ..................................................................................................... 6
Limitations ........................................................................................................ 7
Definitions of Terms ......................................................................................... 8
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................... 13
CHAPTER 3: METHOD ........................................................................................ 17
Research Design .............................................................................................. 17
Participant Description .................................................................................... 17
Instruments ...................................................................................................... 19
Procedure ......................................................................................................... 25
Analysis ........................................................................................................... 28
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS ....................................................................................... 29
Post-Hoc Analyses .......................................................................................... 34
CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION ................................................................................. 35
Future Research ............................................................................................... 38
REFERENCES ....................................................................................................... 40
APPENDICES ........................................................................................................ 48
APPENDIX A: IRB APPROVAL ......................................................................... 49
vi vi
Page
APPENDIX B: INFORMED CONSENT .............................................................. 51
APPENDIX C: DEMOGRAPHICS QUESTIONNAIRE ...................................... 54
APPENDIX D: MENTAL HEALTH QUESTIONNAIRE ................................... 56
APPENDIX E: INTERNATIONAL PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
QUESTIONNAIRE (IPAQ) ........................................................................ 58
APPENDIX F: IPAQ SCORING PROTOCOL ..................................................... 65
APPENDIX G: JOURNAL .................................................................................... 83
APPENDIX H: BORG-RPE SCALE ..................................................................... 86
APPENDIX I: IMPULSE CONTROL INSTRUCTIONS ..................................... 88
APPENDIX J: SET-SHIFTING TASK INSTRUCTIONS ................................... 91
APPENDIX K: POST-TEST QUESTIONNAIRE ................................................ 94
LIST OF TABLES
Page
Table 1 Demographic Information of Participants ............................................... 17
Table 2 Descriptive Statistics of Interest, Effort, and Attention on Cognitive
Tasks of Sedentary vs Exercise Group ..................................................... 29
Table 3 Descriptive Statistics of the Cognitive Task Scores of Sedentary vs
Exercise Group ........................................................................................ 30
Table 4 MANOVA Tests of Between-Subjects Effects on the Impulse Control
Task .......................................................................................................... 31
Table 5 MANOVA Tests of Between-Subjects Effects on the Distractibility
Task .......................................................................................................... 33
LIST OF FIGURES
Page
Figure 1. Sample calculation of IPAQ long form scoring protocol (IPAQ,
2005). ...................................................................................................... 19
Figure 2. IPAQ categorization of low, moderate, and high physical activity
(IPAQ, 2005). .......................................................................................... 21
Figure 3. Decision-tree for participant placement ................................................. 27
Figure 4. Correlation scatterplot of performance on the impulse control to
distractibility task measured by the total number of correct trials. ......... 33