This study examined cognitive performance during exercise and the effects of exercise intensity, exercise modality, cognitive task type, and time of assessment, as well as assessed the accompanying self-reported measures. Eighteen highly-trained and elite water polo players (21.04 ± 3.27 years of age; 12 male, 6 female) completed a dual-task protocol on two occasions: once performing a domain-general task (Stroop test with three cognitive trial types) and once performing a domain-specific task (water polo video-based test) during cycling exercise. The exercise involved three work-matched bouts of cycling: continuous moderate intensity, continuous high intensity, and interval high intensity. Self-reported measures (rating of perceived exertion, affect, mental effort, mental and physical demands) were recorded after each exercise condition. There were exercise intensity-related effects on Stroop performance only, including faster reaction time during moderate-intensity exercise for naming trials (p < 0.001), and interactions with cognitive trial type (p = 0.037). There were no differences between continuous and interval high-intensity exercise conditions for either performance or self-reported responses. Notably, mental effort and demand, in addition to physical effort and demand, were perceived to be significantly higher for the Stroop task than for the video-based test despite identical exercise conditions. Furthermore, Stroop accuracy was associated with more positive affect (r = 0.47) and lower ratings of physical demand (r = -0.37). These findings imply possible task-specificity of athletes` dual-task performance. They also support the importance of further exploring how task duration and participants' perceptions relate to executive function performance during exercise.
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