Executive functions (EF) are a set of cognitive skills that help adaptation to novel or complex situations, and include working memory, inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility. Evidence suggests a single bout of aerobic physical activity (PA) may improve EF. No reviews have specifically examined the effect of walking on EF. Walking is a cost free, easily accessible, and a convenient form of PA which has diverse health benefits. The objective was to investigate the effect of a single bout of walking on EF. In terms of the methods used, a three-level meta-analysis was conducted with sub-group analysis including PA intensity, duration and time delay to cognitive testing. Inclusion criteria were: (1) Population: participants aged 18-65 y with no known diseases or cognitive impairments; (2) Intervention: an acute, single bout of light to moderate intensity walking as the independent variable; (3) Comparator: a control group/visit with a period of physical inactivity prior to cognitive testing; (4) Outcome variable: evaluated EF via a time or accuracy metric; (5) provided data sufficient to calculate an effect size estimate. Effect sizes were calculated from all studies included in a meta-analytical review of the effects of an acute, single bout of walking on executive function in healthy adults.

Four databases were searched on 29th January 2020: PubMed, Web of Science, SPORTDiscus and PsychNET. The search strategy comprised the search terms, inclusive of the specific EF tasks considered, and logical operators set out below. Search parameters included articles from database inception to the conduction of the search in January 2020. Reference lists from any relevant retrieved studies were also screened additional studies to be included. Acute OR single AND exercise OR “physical activity” OR “physical exertion” OR “physical training” OR walk OR aerob AND cognit OR executive OR decision OR inhib OR “working memory” OR “cognitive flexibility” OR “unitary construct” OR “erickson flankers task” OR “trail making test” OR “verbal fluency” OR “word fluency” OR “decision making” OR “incompatible reaction time” OR “stroop interference” OR “alternate uses task” OR “random number generation” OR “digit span” OR “wisconsin card sorting” OR “raven's progressive matrices” OR “math problem solving” OR “logical reasoning” OR “task switch” OR “task-switch” OR “goal maint” OR "n-back" OR "n back" OR "one back" OR "one-back" OR "two back" OR " 2-back" OR "stop signal" OR "stop-signal" OR "go no go" OR "go-no-go" OR "go/no-go" OR "sternberg" OR "brown-peterson" OR "brown peterson" OR "task switch" OR "set shift"