ReviewJournal of sport and health science2019
The exercise-cognition relationship: A virtuous circle.
Review in Journal of sport and health science, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 51 papers, 3 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
51 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Does music support executive functions and affective responses during acute exercise? A systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Pooled it
- The Effect of Acute High-Intensity Interval Training on Executive Function: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Effects of Exercise Training Interventions on Executive Function in Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2020Pooled it
- Interrupting sitting with moderate-intensity physical activity breaks improves cognitive processing speed in adults with overweight and obesity: Findings from the SITLess pilot randomized crossover trial.International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology · 2025Trial
- Cognitive and motor reserve in Parkinson's disease: Two sides of the same coin?Journal of neuropsychology · 2026Article
- Effects of exercise‑derived extracellular vesicles: Epigenetic regulatory mechanisms and protective roles (Review).International journal of molecular medicine · 2026Review
- The impact of 24-h activity patterns on executive function in older adults with chronic diseases: analysis of the isotonic substitution effect.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Effects of physical activity on anxiety phenomenon in vocational college students-chain mediation of self-control and mobile phone dependence.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Variability in Exercise is Linked to Improved Age-related Dysfunctions, Suggesting a Potential Role for the Constrained-Disorder Principle-based Second-Generation Artificial Intelligence System.Current aging science · 2026Article
- The Relationship Among Pain, Intrinsic Capacity, and Fear of Movement in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Moderated Network Analysis.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- Effort minimization: A permanent, dynamic, and surmountable influence on physical activity.Journal of sport and health science · 2025Article
- A Narrative Hypothesis: The Important Role of Gut Microbiota in the Modulation of Effort Tolerance in Endurance Athletes.Nutrients · 2025Review
- The Effect of Physical Activity on Executive Functions in the Elderly Population: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- The effort hypothesis at the heart of the virtuous circle.EXCLI journal · 2025Review
- Brain endurance training as a strategy for reducing mental fatigue.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- The Impact of Different Types of Exercise on Executive Functions in Overweight/Obese Individuals: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Aerobic exercise prevents and improves cognitive dysfunction caused by morphine withdrawal via regulating endogenous opioid peptides in the brain.Psychopharmacology · 2024Article
- Dopamine in Sports: A Narrative Review on the Genetic and Epigenetic Factors Shaping Personality and Athletic Performance.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Exercise Barriers in Older Individuals with Alzheimer's Disease: A Cross-Sectional Study.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2024Article
- A Behavioral Perspective for Improving Exercise Adherence.Sports medicine - open · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Exercise and health psychology have generated 2 sets of empirical studies guided by separate theory-driven axes. The first axis focuses on the causal relationship between chronic exercise and cognition and, more particularly, high-level cognitive functions such as executive functions (EFs). The second axis examines factors influencing the adherence process to physical activity (PA). Research conducted during the past decade shows that these 2 topics are closely linked, with EFs and effortful control playing a pivotal role in the bidirectional relationship linking PA and mental/brain health. The present article supports the idea that an individual engaged in the regular practice of effortful PA initiates a virtuous circle linking PA and effortful control in a bidirectional way. On the one hand, chronic exercise leads to an improvement of EFs and effortful control. On the other hand, gains in EFs and effortful control effectiveness lead to a reciprocal facilitation of the maintenance of PA over time. Some limitations and perspectives to this effort hypothesis are proposed in the last part of the article.
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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.