We examined the effects of moderate exercise on the performance of mental tasks (a simple addition in a continuous fashion (SAC), a simple addition in a discrete fashion (SAD), and a visual memory task (VM)). Fifteen college students were required to perform each task before and after the 10 min rest or exercise. In the SAC task, the number of responses significantly increased in exercise condition. Multiple regression analysis revealed that “exercise” affected the number of responses as an independent factor. On the other hand, the performances of both SAD and VM tasks were not influenced by prior exercise. These results suggest that moderate exercise raised the arousal level, and this could be enabled to allocate attention to a more wide range space.
