Objectives: The review aims to create an overview of current evidence on the acute effect of physical activity (PA) on cognition in adults aged 50 and older, focusing on which cognitive (sub)domains, cognitive tests, and outcomes are used, and whether effects were demonstrated.

Methods: The MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane Central databases were searched for articles assessing the acute effect of PA on cognition in healthy adults aged 50 and older.

Results: Forty-two articles were included, using a variety of protocols. Executive functioning was the most frequently assessed cognitive domain. Overall, thirty-five different cognitive tests were administered, among which many variations and modifications were found. Furthermore, the reported outcomes varied greatly, even when using the same test. Across tests, 45.3% of the reported outcomes demonstrated an improvement in cognition shortly after PA. Time-based outcomes demonstrated an improvement more often than accuracy-based outcomes. However, because of the large variety among protocols and often insufficiently nuanced reporting, results should be interpreted carefully.

Conclusions: The acute effect of PA on executive functioning in older adults has been examined frequently, but research in other cognitive domains is limited. The variety among study protocols and test outcomes highlights the need for more rigorous research and reporting.

Keywords: Cognitive functioning; cognitive domains; executive functioning; exercise; middle-aged adults; older adults.

目标： 本综述旨在概述目前关于身体活动（PA）对50岁及以上成年人认知急性效应的证据，重点关注哪些认知（子）领域、认知测试和结果被使用以及是否显示了效果。

方法： 通过MEDLINE、Embase和Cochrane Central数据库检索评估身体活动对50岁以上健康成人认知急性效应的文章。

结果： 共纳入42篇文章，使用了多种不同的协议。执行功能是被评估最频繁的认知领域。总体而言，有35种不同的认知测试被应用，在这些测试中发现了许多变异和修改版本。此外，即使使用相同的测试，报告的结果也差异很大。在所有测试中，45.3%的报告结果表明身体活动后短期内认知有所改善。基于时间的结果比基于准确性的结果更经常显示出改善的效果。然而，由于研究协议之间存在很大的多样性，并且往往缺乏细致入微的报告，因此需要谨慎解释这些结果。

结论： 对老年人执行功能的身体活动急性效应的研究已经进行了许多次，但在其他认知领域的研究则相对有限。不同研究报告和测试结果之间的差异强调了进行更严谨研究和报告的必要性。

关键词： 认知功能；认知领域；执行功能；锻炼；中年人；老年人。