Individuals with depressive symptoms often exhibit deficits in executive function. This is especially true in advanced cognitive control tasks such as conflict inhibition. Specific manifestations include insufficient allocation of attentional resources and delayed responses. This study aimed to explore whether an 8 week cognitively engaging exercise has a continuous effect on improving the conflict inhibition of college students with depressive symptoms. It also aimed to reveal the underlying cognitive neural processing mechanisms. The study used the BDI-II depression symptom self-rating scale to recruit and screen 40 college students with scores greater than 13. These subjects were randomly assigned to an exercise group and a routine control group in a 1:1 ratio. The exercise group received moderate intensity Taekwondo target kicking exercise 3 times a week for 30 min each time over a total of 8 weeks. This included 5 min of warm up, 20 min of Taekwondo target kicking, and 5 min of cool down. The control group engaged in time matched 30-min quiet reading sessions focusing on mental health manuals. Both groups maintained their habitual daily routines and abstained from additional regular exercise. The BDI-II scale was used to examine changes in depressive symptoms among college students before and after the exercise intervention. Simultaneously, the Stroop task and event related potential techniques were used. These methods investigated the synchronized changes in the behavioral performance of conflict inhibition and the amplitude and latency of N2 and P3 in the brain among college students with depressive symptoms before and after the intervention. Independent sample t-tests and paired sample t-tests were used for data analysis of the scale scores. For the behavioral task and event related potential results, MATLAB 2022b was used for data preprocessing. Repeated measures analysis of variance was then used to explore the main effects and interaction effects of different groups, time points, task conditions, and electrodes. The results showed that after 8 weeks, the BDI II scores of college students with depressive symptoms in the exercise group significantly decreased (p 0.05), and no remission occurred. There was a significant difference in the BDI II scores between the exercise group and the routine control group at the post test stage (p < 0.05). The Stroop behavioral results showed that the task reaction time had significant interaction effects for time by group and time by condition by group (p < 0.05). The event-related potential results showed that the N2 amplitude had significant two-way interaction effects for time by group (p < 0.05) and time by condition (p < 0.05). The P3 amplitude had a significant three-way interaction effect for time by condition by group (p < 0.05). The N2 latency had a significant interaction effect for time by group. It also showed a significant three-way interaction effect for time by electrode by group (p < 0.05). The P3 latency had a significant three-way interaction effect for time by condition by electrode (p < 0.05). Cognitively engaging exercise can effectively improve the mood of college students with depressive symptoms. It also has a specific regulatory effect on conflict inhibition capabilities. The underlying cognitive neural processing mechanisms are mainly reflected in enhancing conflict monitoring and optimizing the allocation of attentional resources. They also involve improving the temporal processing efficiency of the prefrontal and central areas. By regulating the temporal and spatial activation patterns of brain regions related to cognitive control, the conflict inhibition function of college students with depressive symptoms is strengthened. Trial Registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry Number: ChiCTR2400087261.
Guo et al. (2026) studied this question.