Aerobic fitness may be a teller of some brain health, study suggests Inhibitory control is the ability to suppress a response or actively ignore irrelevant distractions. New research from Northeastern University suggests that both body composition and fitness level relate to inhibitory controls, but do so independently and uniquely. “We found that greater aerobic fitness was associated with better inhibitory control,” said Kellyn Carlson, a Ph.D. student at Northeastern’s Institute for Cognitive and Brain Health who led the study. Inhibitory control is the ability to suppress a response or actively ignore irrelevant distractions. The results demonstrate that fitness and body composition each relate to inhibitory control uniquely and independently, Carlson said.