The exercise-cognitive neuroscience is an interdisciplinary field that explores the exercise improvement of the cognitive performance and the brain functions by using the cognitive neuroscience research methods. Recently, the functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) becomes a hot technique used in the exercise-cognitive neuroscience. It is shown that:The prefrontal activation level of the elderly is higher during the single-task walking than that of the young, and the activation level is lower during the dual-task walking; the moderate intensity acute aerobic exercise is the best way to improve the cognitive level and to increase the brain activation, while the exercise under the hypoxia would damage the cognitive function; the longterm aerobic exercise or the high-intensity interval exercise can improve the cognitive performance and the brain activation level, but for the elderly, the long-term exercise may reduce the brain activation level. The future studies should exclude the influence of the systemic physiological factors in the exercise situations on the cerebral cortical activation, strengthen the randomized controlled experiments of the effects of the long-term exercise on the cognitive function brain mechanisms, use the multimodal brain imaging methods to systematically investigate the exercise-cognitive neural mechanisms, and explore the exercise prescription in the field of the exercise-cognition.

exercise-cognitive neuroscience  /  acute exercise  /  long-term exercise  /  walking