Abstract
BackgroundResearch suggests that physical activity (PA) enhances cognitive performance and prevents stress-related impairments of higher order cognitive functions like working memory (WM) performance. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of PA on WM performance after acute stress exposure in preadolescent children.MethodsRegular PA was assessed for seven consecutive days during a typical school week using accelerometers in a sample of 44 preadolescent children (14 girls, Mage = 11.29 years, SDage = 0.67). Following this period, participants performed an automated operational span (OSPAN) task immediately after being exposed to the Trier Social Stress Test for Children (TSST-C).ResultsChildren exhibited prototypical response slopes in salivary cortisol and salivary α-amylase as markers of the endocrine and autonomic stress response immediately after psychosocial stress induction. A subsequent two-way ANOVA comparing high- and low-stress responders revealed a significant interaction between group affiliation and PA level on WM performance for both stress markers. Interestingly, best WM performance was demonstrated in children showing both high PA levels and high cortisol (or low α-amylase, respectively) stress responses.ConclusionsThough patterns differed for salivary cortisol and salivary α-amylase, overall findings suggest that PA buffers the negative effects of stress on cognitive performance in children.
Highlights
Children face multiple stressful situations in their everyday lives, including homework [1], standardized testing situations, and presentations [2]
These negative effects of stress on cognitive performance are supposed to be modulated by stress-related activity of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis, Wunsch et al BMC Pediatrics (2019) 19:271 as high amounts of glucocorticoid receptors can be found in areas associated with working memory (WM), such as the prefrontal cortex [6, 13,14,15]
The present results suggest that physical activity (PA) is able to diminish the negative effects of stress on cognitive performance in children
Summary
Children face multiple stressful situations in their everyday lives, including homework [1], standardized testing situations, and presentations [2]. Quesada and colleagues did not find an effect of acute psychosocial stress on WM performance in two simple (instead of complex) span tasks [11], mirroring evidence in adult populations [12]. These negative effects of stress on cognitive performance are supposed to be modulated by stress-related activity of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis, Wunsch et al BMC Pediatrics (2019) 19:271 as high amounts of glucocorticoid receptors can be found in areas associated with WM, such as the prefrontal cortex [6, 13,14,15]. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of PA on WM performance after acute stress exposure in preadolescent children
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