A Study Of Visuospatial Working Memory Characteristics Of College Students In Open And Closed Sports

Objective: Visuospatial working memory is one of the critical components of working memory and significantly impacts working memory.Exercise has been shown to promote the development of working memory,but some studies have found that open-motion,and closed-motion exercises can affect working memory to different degrees.The findings are inconsistent with whether visuospatial working memory,another essential cognitive function,is also influenced by different movement categories.In addition,gender was found to affect visuospatial working memory,so it is unclear whether the effect of gender on visuospatial working memory is moderated by open and closed sports programs,so this study will investigate the differences in the characteristics of visuospatial working memory between college students in open and closed sports programs by combining the fNIRS technique.Methods: To investigate the characteristics and intrinsic brain neurophysiological mechanisms of visuospatial working memory in college students who performed openand closed-specific sports for an extended period,an experimental design of 3(Group:open-motion group,closed-motion group,no-motion group)× 2(Gender: male,female)between groups was used,with dependent variables: correct rate,reaction time index and oxygenated hemoglobin concentration change values,and independent variables:different groups,different gender.Eighty-one subjects(42 males and 39 females)were selected on campus to participate in this experiment,and their exercise program and exercise intensity were investigated and screened using the PAQ-A and the Exercise Pattern Questionnaire,and they were divided into three different groups: 27 in the open-ended exercise group(the inclusion criteria were that they had been playing badminton,table tennis,and tennis-specific sports at school for more than one year and,in the past 6 months 27 subjects in the closed sports group(27 subjects who had been playing 100 m,200m and long-distance running at school for at least one year and had been training in these sports for 90 minutes three times a week for the past 6 months);27 subjects in the no sports group(27 subjects who were not physical education majors and who had not been training in these sports for the past 6 months);and 27 subjects in the no sports group(27 subjects who were not physical education majors and who had not been training in these sports for the past 6 months and who had been training in these sports for 90 minutes three times a week for the past 6 months).The no-exercise group consisted of 27 subjects who were not physical education majors and had no regular exercise habits in the past 6 months and excluded subjects who performed open-ended and closed-ended sports.In this study,the subjects’ visuospatial working memory task(VWMT)was measured,and the experimental program was prepared using E-prime 3.0 software to collect the correct rate and reaction time data of the subjects visuospatial working memory task.In contrast,the neurophysiological activities of different channels in the subjects’ brain regions were monitored in real-time using the fNIRS device.Two-factor ANOVA was used to process the behavioral and fNIRS data.Results :(1)On the reaction time of the VWMT task,the main effect of different motor categories was significant(F=58.49,p=0.000<0.05),in which the reaction time of the open motor group was significantly faster than that of the closed motor group and the no motor group;the main effect of gender was significant(F=4.86,p=0.031<0.05),and the reaction time of all males were faster than that of females;the interaction of gender ×different motor categories effect was not significant(F=1.12,p=0.332>0.05).(2)On the correctness of the VWMT task,the main effect of different motor categories was not significant(F=0.22,p=0.802>0.05),and the main effect of gender was not significant(F=0.66,p=0.421>0,05);the interaction effect of gender x different motor categories was not significant(F=1.15,p=0.321>0.05).(3)In the beta display of fNIRS measurement of oxygenated hemoglobin concentration,it was found that the dorsolateral prefrontal and frontopolar regions were significantly activated during the VWMT task.The main effects of different motor categories were significant in Ch2,Ch3,Ch5,Ch6,Ch9,Ch10,Ch13,Ch18,Ch21,and in Ch5,Ch6,Ch9,Ch13,Ch18,Ch21 the activation level in the closed exercise group was significantly higher than that in the no-exercise group;in Ch2,Ch3,Ch10 the activation level in the open exercise group was significantly higher than that in the closed exercise and no-exercise groups.Gender main effects were significant in Ch13,Ch18,and Ch21,where females had significantly higher activation levels than males when performing the VWMT task.Conclusions:(1)College students who performed open-and closed-motion performed better in visuospatial working memory ability than those who did not,and those who performed open-motion showed more advantage in visuospatial working memory.(2)Males performed significantly better than females on visuospatial working memory.Open-ended exercise facilitated visuospatial working memory better than closed exercise for females,and open-ended exercise had a compensatory effect on visuospatial working memory for females.