The Effects Of Fancy Shuttlecock Exercise On Cognitive Potential And Sensory Gating Of College Students

Background and objective: Attention refers to the ability for one’s mentalactivities to point to or focus on a certain thing. Attention deficiency is theneuropsychological basis of deficiency in other cognitive functions, which takesplace prior to the occurrence of a disease. P50is considered to reflect the preliminaryautomatic inhibiting ability that the brain eliminates the entry of irrelevant stimulus,i.e, the filtration of irrelevant stimulus at the early stage of attention. P300reflectsthe attention resources by which the brain allocates useful information. They bothreflect the functional ability of attention from different aspects, thus becoming animportant neuropsychological indicator to evaluate attention abilities. Previousstudies show that exercise has a beneficial effect on cognitive function, but there hasbeen dispute on whether this effect is selective or universal. While previous studiesfocused mainly on the quantitative characteristics of exercise, recent studies begin toinvestigate the qualitative exercise effect on cognitive function. Exercises ofdifferent characteristics have different effects on cognitive function, depending oncoordinative and cognitive task complexity. As a form of traditional folk exercise ofour country, fancy shuttlecock is deep-rooted and popular with the public. Fancyshuttlecock corresponds with neuromotor exercise standard, which is highlydemanding of balance, coordination, gait and sensitivity, as well as high cognitivetask complexity. While the fitness function of fancy shuttlecock is beyond all doubt,there are few studies concerning the effect it has on cognitive function. No study offancy shuttlecock effect on cognitive potential and sensory gating has been reported.With healthy female university students as study subjects, with randomizedcontrolled trial method, this dissertation traces the effects that6-week fancy shuttlecock exercise on the subjects’ event-related potential P300and P50indicator,and evaluates the effects of fancy shuttlecock exercise on cognitive ability, especiallyon attention ability, with the hope to provide experimental basis for enriching relatedknowledge and the making of prescription for national fitness program.Subjects and methods: Through publicity, handing out demographiccharacteristics, and PARQ&YOU questionnaire，23female non-PE undergraduatesfrom Shandong Normal University were selected with informed consent. Thesubjects are divided into jogging group (n=11) and fancy shuttlecock group(n=12).Methods adopted include literature， survey, mathematical statistics andexperiments. Experimental tests are all conducted inside the human movementscience lab in Changqing Campus of Shandong Normal University. Fancyshuttlecock group exercise is done for6weeks with a frequency of3times a week,duration of30minutes, and a controlled intensity of150±5/minute heartbeat.Jogging group takes corresponding constant velocity exercise. Event-related P50andp300indicators are recorded and analyzed before the exercise,4weeks after theexercise and6weeks after exercise respectively. Event-related potential tests areperformed with the NDT-092neuroelectrical apparatus manufactured by ShanghaiPoseidon Medical Instrument Factory. Statistic analysis is conducted with SPSS15.0for windows application. Inter-group significant difference is tested withindependent-samples t test. Intra-group significant difference is tested with varianceanalysis of repeated measurement, and all results are presented with mean value andstandard deviation.Results:①After6weeks of fancy shuttlecock exercise, sensory gating P50ratioof subjects falls significantly（P＜0.05）, while there is no significant change（P＞0.05） in P50ratio among jogging subjects.②In both6weeks’ fancy shuttlecockand jogging exercise, the reaction time of P300at Fz、Cz、Pz is significantlyshortened（P＜0.05）. The difference lies in that4weeks’fancy shuttlecock exerciseleads to a significant fall（P＜0.05）in the reaction time of P300at all3sites of Fz、Cz、Pz, while4weeks’jogging leads to a significant fall（P＜0.05）in the reaction time of P300only at site Cz.③Fancy shuttlecock exercise for6weekssignificantly shortens（P＜0.05）the P300latency only at Pz, while has no significant（P＞0.05）effect on P300latency at Fz and Cz. No significant difference（P＞0.05）is observed at any of the3sites in jogging group.④Fancy shuttlecock exercise for6weeks significantly amplifies（P＜0.05）the P300amplitude at sites Fz, Cz, and Pz,while no significant changes（P＞0.05）are observed with jogging subjects.Conclusion: As a form of neuro-motor exercise training, fancy shuttlecock has abeneficial effect on sensory gating P50and cognitive potential P300. It has a bettereffect than that in jogging considering earlier emergence and wider influence. Thebeneficial effect of fancy shuttlecock exercise on cognitive function shows theselective characteristics, such as in P300indexes and scalp lead distribution.