<p>According to "<a href="http://jap.physiology.org/content/111/5/1505.long" rel="nofollow">Exercise, brain, and cognition across the life span</a>" which was cited in the original question, there are different effects that differ for various populations.</p>

<p><strong>Developing Brains</strong></p>

<p>There is no research on the effects resistance training in children. However, general exercise has significant benefits:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>a meta-analysis that aggregated results across 44 studies found an
  overall effect size of 0.32 for the association between childhood
  physical activity and fitness and cognition, with significant effects
  across a range of abilities, such as perceptual skills (0.49),
  creativity and concentration (0.40), academic readiness (0.39) and
  achievement (0.30), IQ (0.34), and math (0.20) and verbal (0.17) tests</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Aerobic exercise has specifically been shown to increase the capabilities of relational memory and accuracy of cognitive performance.</p>

<p><strong>Adult Brains</strong></p>

<p>Since young brains are relatively stable, little research has been done on the effects of exercise on this population. All that has been determined behaviourly is:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>aerobic fitness effects on behavior may only emerge in this
  high-functioning group when the task is extremely difficult or that
  young adults have a greater range of compensatory strategies compared
  with children and older adults to achieve enhanced performance</p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>Ageing Brains</strong></p>

<p>Aerobic training has many positive effects on ageing across a broad range of intensities, however resistance training appears to only have benefits with higher resistance levels. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-08-09T19:11:57.857Z
2016-08-09T19:11:57.857Z
Seanny123
<p>I tried to do a little research myself and like you observed, there is not much research being done on adults relating to this topic.</p>

<p>What I did find was research done by <a href="http://education.msu.edu/kin/HBCL/_articles/Pontifex_2009_TheEffectOfAcute.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">M.B. Pontifex <em>et al.</em> (2009)</a>. Although this research was done on healthy 21 year olds (Young Adults).</p>

<p>They researched the effects of aerobic exercise and resistance excercise on reaction time of tasks as well as accuracy of tasks amongst other things.</p>

<p>This data was collected via the following method:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Twenty-one young adult participants completed a cardiorespiratory fitness test and maximal strength tests. On
  subsequent days, task performance measures of reaction time (RT) and accuracy were collected while participants completed a modified
  Sternberg working memory task before the start of, immediately after, and 30 min after an intervention consisting of 30 min of either
  resistance or aerobic exercise and a seated rest control.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Their observation was that after aerobic excercise their response time latency (reaction time) was decreased directly after or 30 minutes after the excercise. This was not observed after or 30 minutes after doing resistance excercise.</p>

<p>They stated:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>The current findings indicated shorter RT latency during
  a working memory task that was performed immediately
  and 30 min after an acute bout of aerobic exercise, relative
  to the pretest. Similar effects were not observed after acute
  resistance exercise or seated rest, indicating that different
  modes of exercise have differential effects on the executive
  control of working memory. Further, shorter RT latency
  was observed for task conditions requiring increased
  working memory capacity after aerobic exercise, relative
  to the pretest, providing support for the view that changes in
  cognitive function after acute exercise are disproportionately
  larger for tasks requiring greater amounts of executive
  control.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>References:</strong>
<a href="http://education.msu.edu/kin/HBCL/_articles/Pontifex_2009_TheEffectOfAcute.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">M.B. Pontifex, C.H.Hillman, B. Fernhall, K.M. Thompson and T.A. Valentini (2009) The Effect of Acute Aerobic and Resistance
Exercise on Working Memory. <em>Med. Sci. Sports Exerc</em> 41(4):927–934</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-30T11:10:23.507Z
2017-08-30T11:10:23.507Z
Starcaz
<p>The beneficial effects of exercise are well documented on cognitive ability (<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2897704/" rel="noreferrer">1</a>, <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763413001012" rel="noreferrer">2</a>) and reducing cognitive decline (<a href="http://jap.physiology.org/content/111/5/1505.short" rel="noreferrer">1</a>). However, has the type of exercise ever been analysed?</p>

<p>In healthy adults, is there a difference on the effects of aerobic (running) and resistance training (lifting weights) on cognitive ability?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-27T20:21:01.010Z
if you're keen on an answer you could consider taking away the 'accepted' check mark on your answer. You can always add it later.
AliceD
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-29T08:52:02.787Z
https://aahperd.confex.com/aahperd/2014/webprogram/Paper19257.html
CuriousIndeed
<cognitive-psychology><exercise>
Effects of aerobic vs. resistance training on cognition
Seanny123
# Effects of aerobic vs. resistance training on cognition

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-08-06)

The beneficial effects of exercise are well documented on cognitive ability ([1](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2897704/), [2](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763413001012)) and reducing cognitive decline ([1](http://jap.physiology.org/content/111/5/1505.short)). However, has the type of exercise ever been analysed?

In healthy adults, is there a difference on the effects of aerobic (running) and resistance training (lifting weights) on cognitive ability?

**Tags:** cognitive-psychology, exercise

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: if you're keen on an answer you could consider taking away the 'accepted' check mark on your answer. You can always add it later.  
> **username_2**: https://aahperd.confex.com/aahperd/2014/webprogram/Paper19257.html  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_0 on 2016-08-09. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

According to "[Exercise, brain, and cognition across the life span](http://jap.physiology.org/content/111/5/1505.long)" which was cited in the original question, there are different effects that differ for various populations.

**Developing Brains**

There is no research on the effects resistance training in children. However, general exercise has significant benefits:

> a meta-analysis that aggregated results across 44 studies found an
> overall effect size of 0.32 for the association between childhood
> physical activity and fitness and cognition, with significant effects
> across a range of abilities, such as perceptual skills (0.49),
> creativity and concentration (0.40), academic readiness (0.39) and
> achievement (0.30), IQ (0.34), and math (0.20) and verbal (0.17) tests

Aerobic exercise has specifically been shown to increase the capabilities of relational memory and accuracy of cognitive performance.

**Adult Brains**

Since young brains are relatively stable, little research has been done on the effects of exercise on this population. All that has been determined behaviourly is:

> aerobic fitness effects on behavior may only emerge in this
> high-functioning group when the task is extremely difficult or that
> young adults have a greater range of compensatory strategies compared
> with children and older adults to achieve enhanced performance

**Ageing Brains**

Aerobic training has many positive effects on ageing across a broad range of intensities, however resistance training appears to only have benefits with higher resistance levels.


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2017-08-30. Score: 3

I tried to do a little research myself and like you observed, there is not much research being done on adults relating to this topic.

What I did find was research done by [M.B. Pontifex *et al.* (2009)](http://education.msu.edu/kin/HBCL/_articles/Pontifex_2009_TheEffectOfAcute.pdf). Although this research was done on healthy 21 year olds (Young Adults).

They researched the effects of aerobic exercise and resistance excercise on reaction time of tasks as well as accuracy of tasks amongst other things.

This data was collected via the following method:

> Twenty-one young adult participants completed a cardiorespiratory fitness test and maximal strength tests. On
> subsequent days, task performance measures of reaction time (RT) and accuracy were collected while participants completed a modified
> Sternberg working memory task before the start of, immediately after, and 30 min after an intervention consisting of 30 min of either
> resistance or aerobic exercise and a seated rest control.

Their observation was that after aerobic excercise their response time latency (reaction time) was decreased directly after or 30 minutes after the excercise. This was not observed after or 30 minutes after doing resistance excercise.

They stated:

> The current findings indicated shorter RT latency during
> a working memory task that was performed immediately
> and 30 min after an acute bout of aerobic exercise, relative
> to the pretest. Similar effects were not observed after acute
> resistance exercise or seated rest, indicating that different
> modes of exercise have differential effects on the executive
> control of working memory. Further, shorter RT latency
> was observed for task conditions requiring increased
> working memory capacity after aerobic exercise, relative
> to the pretest, providing support for the view that changes in
> cognitive function after acute exercise are disproportionately
> larger for tasks requiring greater amounts of executive
> control.

**References:**
[M.B. Pontifex, C.H.Hillman, B. Fernhall, K.M. Thompson and T.A. Valentini (2009) The Effect of Acute Aerobic and Resistance
Exercise on Working Memory. *Med. Sci. Sports Exerc* 41(4):927–934](http://education.msu.edu/kin/HBCL/_articles/Pontifex_2009_TheEffectOfAcute.pdf)


---

