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The purpose of this study was to examine possible dose-response and time course effects of an acute bout of resistance exercise on the core executive functions of inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. Twenty-eight participants (14 female; M = 20.5 ± 2.1 years) completed a control condition and resistance exercise bouts performed at 40%, 70%, and 100% of their individual 10-repetition maximum. An executive function test battery was administered at 15 min and 180 min postexercise to assess immediate and delayed effects of exercise on executive functioning. At 15 min postexercise, high-intensity exercise resulted in less interference and improved reaction time (RT) for the Stroop task, while at 180 min low- and moderate-intensity exercise resulted in improved performance on plus-minus and Simon tasks, respectively. These findings suggest a limited and task-specific influence of acute resistance exercise on executive function in healthy young adults.

Mental and physical (MAP) training is a novel clinical intervention that combines mental training through meditation and physical training through aerobic exercise. The intervention was translated from neuroscientific studies indicating that MAP training increases neurogenesis in the adult brain. Each session consisted of 30 min of focused-attention (FA) meditation and 30 min of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise. Fifty-two participants completed the 8-week intervention, which consisted of two sessions per week. Following the intervention, individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD; n=22) reported significantly less depressive symptoms and ruminative thoughts. Typical healthy individuals (n=30) also reported less depressive symptoms at follow-up. Behavioral and event-related potential indices of cognitive control were collected at baseline and follow-up during a modified flanker task. Following MAP training, N2 and P3 component amplitudes increased relative to baseline, especially among individuals with MDD. These data indicate enhanced neural responses during the detection and resolution of conflicting stimuli. Although previous research has supported the individual beneficial effects of aerobic exercise and meditation for depression, these findings indicate that a combination of the two may be particularly effective in increasing cognitive control processes and decreasing ruminative thought patterns.

Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) represent direct measures of neural activity that are leveraged to understand cognitive, affective, sensory, and motor processes. Every ERP researcher encounters the obstacle of determining whether measurements are precise or psychometrically reliable enough for an intended purpose. In this primer, we review three types of measurements metrics: data quality, group-level internal consistency, and subject-level internal consistency. Data quality estimates characterize the precision of ERP scores but provide no inherent information about whether scores are precise enough for examining individual differences. Group-level internal consistency characterizes the ratio of between-person differences to the precision of those scores, and provides a single reliability estimate for an entire group of participants that risks masking low reliability for some individuals. Subject-level internal consistency considers the precision of an ERP score for a person relative to betweenperson differences for a group, and an estimate is yielded for each individual. We apply each metric to published error-related negativity (ERN) and reward positivity (RewP) data and demonstrate how failing to consider data quality and internal consistency can undermine statistical inferences. We conclude with general comments on how these estimates may be used to improve measurement quality and methodological transparency. Subject-level internal consistency computation is implemented within the ERP Reliability Analysis (ERA) Toolbox.

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Event-related potentials (ERPs) represent direct measures of neural activity that are leveraged to understand cognitive, affective, sensory, and motor processes. Every ERP researcher encounters the obstacle of determining whether measurements are precise enough for an intended purpose. In this primer we review three types of measurements metrics: data quality, group-level reliability, and subject-level reliability. Data quality estimates characterize the precision of ERP scores but provide no information about whether scores are precise enough for an intended comparison. Group-level reliability characterizes the ratio of between-person differences to the precision of those scores, and provides a single reliability estimate for an entire group of participants that risks masking low reliability for some individuals. Subject-level reliability considers the precision of an ERP score for a person relative to between-person differences for a group, and an estimate is yielded for each individual. We apply each metric to published error-related negativity (ERN) and reward positivity (RewP) data and demonstrate how failing to consider data quality and reliability can undermine statistical inferences. We conclude with general comments on how these estimates may be integrated into the literature to improve measure quality and methodological transparency. Subject-level reliability computation is implemented within the ERP Reliability Analysis (ERA) Toolbox.

Neurocognitive impairments commonly observed in depressive disorders are thought to be reflected in reduced P300 amplitudes. To date, depression‐related P300 amplitude reduction has mostly been demonstrated cross‐sectionally, while its clinical implication for the course of depression remains largely unclear. Moreover, the relationship between P300 and specific clinical characteristics of depression is uncertain. To shed light on the functional significance of the P300 in depression, we examined whether initial P300 amplitude prospectively predicted changes in depressive symptoms among a community sample of 58 adults (mean age = 38.86 years old, 81% female) with a current depressive disorder. This sample was assessed at two‐time points, separated by approximately nine months (range = 6.6–15.9). At the initial visit, participants completed clinical interviews, self‐report measures, and a flanker task, while EEG was recorded to derive P300 amplitude. At the follow‐up visit, participants again completed the same clinical interviews and self‐report measures. Results indicated that a reduced P300 amplitude at the initial visit was associated with higher total depressive symptoms at follow‐up, even after controlling for initial depressive symptoms. These data indicate the potential clinical utility for the P300 as a neural marker of disease course among adults with a current depressive disorder. Future research may target P300 in interventions to determine whether depression‐related outcomes can be improved.