Physical activity enhances theta-periodicity of visual attentional allocation

The traditional notion of a sustained visual spotlight of attention has been challenged by behavioral and neural evidence showing that attention fluctuates rhythmically in the theta band (3–8 Hz). In rodents, locomotion drives hippocampal theta oscillations that support cue sampling during navigation, enhancing sensory encoding and decision-making. This raises the question of whether physical activity (PA) similarly modulates theta-based attentional sampling in humans. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), we found that discrimination accuracy (DA) increased following PA, accompanied by stronger theta-band modulation of both DA and reaction times (RTs) in trial-by-trial spectral analyses. Critically, PA elevated frontal theta power after cue presentation and shifted the coupling of visual high-frequency activity (HFA; 80–150 Hz) toward an encoding-sensitive theta phase. Moreover, target-evoked HFA exhibited stronger theta-range fluctuations after PA. Together, these findings demonstrate that short bouts of movement can tune the brain's intrinsic theta-band sampling mechanism, thereby linking PA to enhanced visual attention.