Abstract: Executive functions are important for successful adaptation and performance in real-life situations. Physical exercise has been broadly recommended as a major non-pharmacological measure to improve executive functions throughout one’s life. But some fundamental questions still remain, such as at what degree of intensity physical exercise can be effective. As far as this paper is concerned, few studies have been done on the effects of acute aerobic exercise of different intensities on executive function. The present study attempts to investigate the effects of acute aerobic exercise of different intensities on college students’ executive function.
The present study adopts a mixed design involving 30 college students (15 male, 15 female) as the subjects, who are supposed to fulfill three tasks, namely, the Flanker task, the 2-back task and the More-odd shifting task in each stage of the experiment. Meanwhile the exercise-induced changes in executive functions, i.e. inhibition, updating and shifting, will be recorded respectively at the four different stages in terms of intensity degrees: a baseline, a light cycling exercise, a moderate cycling exercise and a high cycling exercise. The time interval between any two stages of the experiment is no less than 7 days and the order of the four stages in the experiment are counterbalanced among the participants in order to minimize the potential practice effects.
It is found that acute aerobic exercise of different intensities has significant effects on college students’ executive function, specifically, inhibition: F(3,84) = 2.76, p<0.05; updating: F(3,84) = 18.78, p<0.01; shifting : F(3,84) = 18.25, p<0.01. It is also found that the effects of acute aerobic exercise on executive function are not significant from the perspective of gender, specifically, inhibition: F(3,84) = 0.55, p>0.05; updating: F(3,84) = 1.53, p>0.05; shifting: F(3,84) = 0.46, p>0.05.
These results suggest that the effects of acute aerobic exercise on executive functions are significantly influenced by intensity, but not by gender. The present study not only confirms the previous assumptions about positive effects of acute aerobic exercise on executive function but also carries the research a step further by looking into the effects of acute aerobic exercise of different intensities on executive functions. In this sense, the findings of the present study may serve as a basis for a more comprehensive aerobic exercise program of improving cognitive abilities.

Key words: college student, acute aerobic exercise, executive function, intensity, gender