How Does Excercise Affect Brain Function

This experiment was conducted to see if the brain would perform better in mathematical tasks, if there was an increase in blood flow through exercise. The increase in blood flow should help the brain to perform better as it receives more oxygen. This is because all cells require oxygen for cellular respiration. To test this, three females, aged 16-17, were asked to answer four mathematical questions for four trials. As each trial progressed, subjects had to run on the spot for an extra 30s. It was clear from the observations that initially, the increase in exercise did not increase the performance of the subjects. However, after trial three (after 60s) two of the subjects increased their mathematical performance. (Graph attached) The predicted hypothesis was correct as brain performance increased through exercise. However, this was not clear in the observations because as soon as exercise began, the blood with the oxygen immediately went to parts of the body that was doing the work (here, the legs). At the initial stage of excercise, the subjects actually felt more distracted because of the lack of oxygen in their brain. Also the body had to warm up and get used to running. Once oxygen reached these certain sites, the heart continued to pump blood to the rest of the body (including the brain). This was evident towards the end when two of the three subjects’ mathematical _NF_performance increased in trial 4 (90s). If there were more trials with increased time, the trend would have been much easier to observe. A source of error was the lack of control of the subject’s food/exercise habits prior, as these results could vary depending on the subjects’ health. Another source of error is the lack of number of trials and people. This experiment would have been more concise if it was conducted in more people and if there were more trials involved.