Fitness tracking reveals task-specific associations between memory, mental health, and physical activity

Manning, Jeremy R.; Notaro, Gina M.; Chen, Esme; Fitzpatrick, Paxton C. · 2022 · DOAJ

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-17781-0

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Summary

This study investigates whether specific types and intensities of physical activity are associated with distinct aspects of cognitive performance and mental health. While the general benefits of exercise on physical and mental well-being are established, the authors hypothesized that these benefits might be task-specific, similar to how different exercises target different muscle groups. To test this, the researchers sought to determine if varying physical activity patterns correlate with specific memory functions and mental health metrics across individuals. The researchers conducted an online experiment using Amazon Mechanical Turk, recruiting 113 participants who were fluent in English and regular users of Fitbit fitness trackers. The study design involved collecting one year of anonymized fitness data from participants’ Fitbit accounts, including metrics on heart rate, sleep, weight, nutrition, and activity levels such as step counts and time spent in various activity zones. Participants also completed a survey reporting on their mental health, stress levels, and demographic information. Additionally, they performed a battery of four memory tasks designed to assess different cognitive domains: free recall of word lists (episodic memory), naturalistic recall of a video narrative, foreign language flashcard learning (semantic memory), and spatial learning involving the memorization of shape locations. The researchers analyzed the data using bootstrap procedures to identify reliable correlations between fitness metrics and cognitive performance, as well as reverse correlation analyses to examine how fitness dynamics leading up to the testing session related to task outcomes. The results indicated that participants with similar physical activity habits and fitness profiles exhibited similar mental health and task performance profiles. Crucially, these associations were task-specific; different physical activity patterns and fitness characteristics varied with different aspects of memory performance. For instance, specific fitness metrics correlated with performance on particular memory tasks rather than showing a uniform effect across all cognitive domains. The study found consistent relationships between the intensity and type of physical activity recorded over the preceding year and the participants’ scores on the memory battery and self-reported mental health measures. These findings provide foundational evidence that the mental benefits of physical activity are not uniform but are instead differentiated by the type of exercise and cognitive domain involved. This suggests that physical activity interventions could be tailored to target specific components of cognitive performance and mental health. By leveraging low-cost fitness tracking devices, future research and clinical applications could potentially design more precise exercise regimens to improve specific memory functions or mental health outcomes, moving beyond general recommendations for physical activity.

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• cognitive impairment