急性有氧健身運動對情緒之影響：神經科學觀點之文獻回顧

The effects of acute aerobic exercise on emotion: A narrative review from a neuroscientific perspective

情緒為心理健康之核心要素，其失調與憂鬱、焦慮等臨床問題有高度相關性。近年來，急性有氧健身運動已被視為改善情緒的有效介入策略，然而其機制則未臻明確，仍需更多研究從神經科學觀點加以探討。為此，本文係以文獻回顧方式，首先闡述情緒的定義及其神經科學基礎，隨後分別從功能性磁共振造影與腦電波／事件關聯電位兩種研究取向回顧急性有氧健身運動對情緒之影響。經文獻回顧後發現，急性有氧健身運動後透過調節神經機制進而改善情緒。在功能性磁共振造影方面，運動能增強前額葉與邊緣系統（如杏仁核、海馬迴、扣帶迴等）的功能性連結，並抑制杏仁核與視覺皮質對負向刺激的過度活化。在腦電波／事件關聯電位方面，急性有氧健身運動能誘發左額葉α波活性較低（反映左側額葉活化優勢），意味著其可誘發正向情緒及良好調控效能。另外，急性健身運動在晚期情緒評價階段增強對正向刺激的注意力資源投入（晚期正向慢波振幅增加），這趨勢能降低對負向刺激的神經敏感度。這些神經特徵共同反映了內隱情緒調節機制之立即效益，有助於大腦更有效率地使用認知資源完成資訊處理，進而對正向情緒的維持與對負向情緒有緩衝作用。本文回顧發現急性有氧健身運動後可立即且短暫透過調節情緒相關腦區連結、神經迴路與神經反應，進而促進正向情緒並抑制負向情緒。然而，現有研究多聚焦在健康族群，對於強度劑量反應、個體差異（性別、身體活動量），及臨床族群應用之證據仍有限。未來研究應整合多模態神經影像技術並考量個體病理特徵，以建立具科學依據及臨床意義的健身運動處方，並可作為情緒疾病預防與介入策略之實證基礎。

Emotion is a core component of mental health, and its dysregulation is closely associated with clinical conditions such as depression and anxiety. In recent years, acute aerobic exercise has been increasingly recognized as an effective intervention for improving emotional functioning. However, the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear, highlighting the need for further investigation from a neuroscientific perspective. Accordingly, the narrative literature review first clarifies the conceptual definition of emotion and its neuroscientific foundations, and then reviews evidence linking acute aerobic exercise to emotional outcomes, drawing specifically on findings from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) research. The review reveals that acute aerobic exercise improves emotion through modulation of neural mechanisms. From an fMRI perspective, exercise enhances functional connectivity between the prefrontal cortex and the limbic system (e.g., the amygdala, hippocampus, and cingulate gyrus), while attenuating hyperactivation of the amygdala and visual cortex in response to negative stimuli. From an EEG perspective, acute aerobic exercise induces a left-frontal activation asymmetry in alpha power. Moreover, during the late stage of emotional evaluation, exercise increases attentional resource allocation to positive stimuli, as reflected by enhanced Late Positive Potential (LPP) amplitudes, while reducing neural sensitivity to negative stimuli. Collectively, these neural characteristics reflect the immediate benefits of implicit emotion regulation mechanisms, facilitating more efficient use of cognitive resources for information processing, The review finds that acute aerobic exercise can immediately and transiently modulate emotion-related brain connectivity, neural circuits, and neural responses, thereby promoting positive emotional states and dampening negative emotional responses. Nevertheless, existing studies have predominantly focused on healthy populations, leaving critical gaps in our understanding of intensity–dose relationships, individual differences (e.g., sex and habitual physical activity), and applicability to clinical populations. Future research should integrate multimodal neuroimaging approaches and account for individual pathological characteristics to establish scientifically grounded and clinically meaningful exercise prescriptions, thereby providing a robust empirical foundation for the prevention and treatment of emotional disorders.