Technique for Differentiating Cortical Hemispheric Activity following Exercise

Abstract

Peripheral Critical Flicker Fusion technology was explored as a basis for inferred differences between right and left cortical hemispheric activity following exercise. 18 subjects underwent three treatments presented in randomized order with 1-wk. intervals in between them. Conditions included a control, 30 min. of steady-state treadmill running, and 20 min. of treadmill running followed by progressively increasing speed until exhaustion intervened. Immediately following each treatment, subjects were given a test of peripheral critical flicker fusion as measured in both peripheral retinal fields. Differences between right and left peripheral retinal field perception were analyzed for the three conditions with a one-way analysis of variance using a repeated-measures design. A significant difference was found among the three treatments for peripheral CFF differences between right and left peripheral fields. A Newman-Keuls test demonstrated a significant shift in cortical activation toward the left hemisphere following the exhaustive exercise. The inferred shift in cortical activity inferred from peripheral CFF, occurs following exhaustive exercise. The left hemisphere was viewed as the dominant locus of cortical activation in that fatigue state.