Isometric Handgrip Exercise Speeds Working Memory Responses in Younger and Older Adults

Physiological arousal affects attention and memory, sometimes enhancing and other times impairing what we attend to and remember. In the present study, we investigated how changes in physiological arousal-induced through short bursts of isometric handgrip exercise-affected subsequent working memory performance. A sample of 57 younger (ages 18-29) and 56 older (ages 65-85) participants performed blocks of isometric handgrip exercise in which they periodically squeezed a therapy ball, alternating with blocks of an auditory working memory task. We found that, compared with those in a control group, participants who performed isometric handgrip had faster reaction times on the working memory task. Handgrip-speeded responses were observed for both younger and older participants, across working memory loads. Analysis of multimodal physiological responses indicated that physiological arousal increased during handgrip. Our findings suggest that performing short bouts of isometric handgrip exercise can improve processing speed, and they offer testable possibilities for the mechanism underlying handgrip's effects on performance. The potential for acute isometric exercise to temporarily improve processing speed may be of particular relevance for older adults who show declines in processing speed and working memory.