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Following many recent studies that connect exercise with all kinds of intelligence and memory benefits, questions are now being raised in a New York Times post: “An interesting new study asks whether the apparent cognitive benefits from exercise are real or just a placebo effect — that is, if we think we will be ‘smarter' after exercise, do our brains respond accordingly? The answer has significant implications for any of us hoping to use exercise to keep our minds sharp throughout our lives.”
The study on which the post is based was recently published: “Is the Effect of Aerobic Exercise on Cognition a Placebo Effect?” The authors “conducted a large survey to explore whether people expect greater cognitive benefits from an aerobic exercise intervention compared to a control intervention. If participants expect greater improvement following aerobic exercise, then the benefits of such interventions might be due in part to a placebo effect.”
Now for the good news: The study seems to support the notion that it's the exercise, and not a placebo effect, that drives improved “cognitive” ability.
The study concluded: “In general, expectations did not differ between aerobic and non-aerobic interventions. If anything, some of the results suggest the opposite (e.g., respondents expected the control, non-aerobic intervention to yield bigger memory gains). These results provide the first evidence that cognitive improvements following aerobic fitness training are not due to differential expectations.”
In the New York Times, Cary Stothart, a graduate student in cognitive psychology at Florida State University, who led the study said: “The results from our study suggest that the benefits of aerobic exercise are not a placebo effect.”
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