The effects of arousal induced by physical exertion upon mental performance

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between physical exertion and mental performance and then to interpret this information in terms of arousal theories. More specifically, this study has attempted to determine the effect that physical exertion has upon mental performance and to determine what, if any, is the nature of this relationship between physical exertion and mental performance. Varying degrees of physical exertion were induced, by bicycle ergometer riding at a rate of fifty revolutions per minute with a resistance of four kilograms. Treatment conditions of 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 minutes of riding were randomly assigned to each of five consecutive days. On completion of each daily exercise bout the subject performed a task designed to measure mental performance. This task required the subject to listen to a list of random numbers, prerecorded at one second intervals, with the objective of detecting a sequence of digits which occurred in the order "odd number - even number - odd number", and to respond by saying "yes" before the next digit was presented. The test consisted of 150 digits and the score was the number of series correctly identified out of a maximum of twenty-eight. Twenty male students residing in campus dormitories volunteered as subjects. The results, although not significant in terms of the effect of the physical exertion conditions, did tend to indicate that physical exertion had a positive effect upon mental performance. Further investigation of the results led to the conclusion that the effect of physical exertion upon mental performance cannot always be described by a simple inverted U relationship.Education, Faculty ofCurriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department ofGraduat