ArticleFrontiers in human neuroscience2026
Hidden in plain sight: verbal declarative memory effects of exercise are eight times larger than aggregate estimates suggest.
Article in Frontiers in human neuroscience, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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2 authors.
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Abstract
Objective: A recent meta-meta-analysis concluded that the average effect of exercise on memory is near zero after correcting for publication bias (SMD = 0.027). We tested whether this null finding reflects excessive aggregation rather than a genuine absence of effect. Methods: We conducted a focused reanalysis a publicly available meta-meta-analytic database, applying a theoretically motivated outcome reclassification protocol to isolate verbal declarative memory (VDM). From 2,239 effect-size estimates spanning 215 meta-analyses, Results: The pooled effect was Conclusion: The null aggregate memory effect masks a meaningful signal for verbal declarative memory. The findings support domain-specific exercise prescriptions: for hippocampus-dependent verbal memory, moderate-intensity aerobic exercise represents an evidence-supported strategy for enhancing retention.
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