ReviewFrontiers in human neuroscience2016
Aerobic Exercise as a Tool to Improve Hippocampal Plasticity and Function in Humans: Practical Implications for Mental Health Treatment.
Review in Frontiers in human neuroscience, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 71 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
71 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 150 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparative effects of different types of exercise interventions on addictive craving, negative affect, and cognitive function in substance use disorder: a substance-subgroup stratified network meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Measuring white matter microstructure in 1,457 cannabis users and 1,441 controls: A systematic review of diffusion-weighted MRI studies.Frontiers in neuroimaging · 2023Pooled it
- A meta-analysis of deep brain structural shape and asymmetry abnormalities in 2,833 individuals with schizophrenia compared with 3,929 healthy volunteers via the ENIGMA Consortium.Human brain mapping · 2022Pooled it
- The Effects of Combined Physical and Cognitive Training on Inhibitory Control: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2021Pooled it
- The association between cardiorespiratory fitness and the incidence of common mental health disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of affective disorders · 2019Pooled it
- Acute Effects of Resistance Exercise on Cognitive Function in Healthy Adults: A Systematic Review with Multilevel Meta-Analysis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2019Pooled it
- Neural correlates of exercise training in individuals with schizophrenia and in healthy individuals: A systematic review.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2018Pooled it
- The (cost-)effectiveness of exercise therapy adjunct to guideline-concordant care for depression: a pragmatic randomised controlled trial.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2025Trial
- Effects of Exercise on Structural and Functional Brain Patterns in Schizophrenia-Data From a Multicenter Randomized-Controlled Study.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2024Trial
- The impact of technology on promoting physical activities and mental health: a gender-based study.BMC psychology · 2023Trial
- Exercise Intervention in Individuals at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis: Benefits to Fitness, Symptoms, Hippocampal Volumes, and Functional Connectivity.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2022Trial
- Acute Effects of High-Intensity Functional Training and Moderate-Intensity Continuous Training on Cognitive Functions in Young Adults.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Trial
- High-intensity interval training and active video gaming improve neurocognition in schizophrenia: a randomized controlled trial.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2021Trial
- Functional high-intensity exercise is more effective in acutely increasing working memory than aerobic walking: an exploratory randomized, controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2020Trial
- Physical Activity and Purkinje Cells: Mechanisms of Cerebellar Plasticity and Neuroprotection.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2026Review
- High-intensity cardiovascular exercise facilitates online motor skill learning, with no effect of BDNF genotype.NPJ science of learning · 2026Article
- Efficacy of aerobic exercise as a combination therapy for depression compared to standardized therapy: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Annals of general psychiatry · 2026Review
- Targeting dyspnoea through exercise intensity: insights from pulmonary rehabilitation and beyond, a narrative review.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciences · 2026Review
- Walking and Hippocampal Formation Volume Changes: A Systematic Review.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Article
11 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Aerobic exercise (AE) has been widely praised for its potential benefits to cognition and overall brain and mental health. In particular, AE has a potent impact on promoting the function of the hippocampus and stimulating neuroplasticity. As the evidence-base rapidly builds, and given most of the supporting work can be readily translated from animal models to humans, the potential for AE to be applied as a therapeutic or adjunctive intervention for a range of human conditions appears ever more promising. Notably, many psychiatric and neurological disorders have been associated with hippocampal dysfunction, which may underlie the expression of certain symptoms common to these disorders, including (aspects of) cognitive dysfunction. Augmenting existing treatment approaches using AE based interventions may promote hippocampal function and alleviate cognitive deficits in various psychiatric disorders that currently remain untreated. Incorporating non-pharmacological interventions into clinical treatment may also have a number of other benefits to patient well being, such as limiting the risk of adverse side effects. This review incorporates both animal and human literature to comprehensively detail how AE is associated with cognitive enhancements and stimulates a cascade of neuroplastic mechanisms that support improvements in hippocampal functioning. Using the examples of schizophrenia and major depressive disorder, the utility and implementation of an AE intervention to the clinical domain will be proposed, aimed to reduce cognitive deficits in these, and related disorders.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.