Abstract
Classroom-based physical activity breaks are postulated to positively impact children's attention during their school day. However, empirical evidence for this claim is scarce and the role of cognitive engagement in enhancing children's attentional performance is unexplored in studies on physical activity breaks. The aim of the present study was therefore to disentangle the separate and/or combined effects of physical exertion and cognitive engagement induced by physical activity breaks on primary school children's attention. In addition, the role of children's affective reactions to acute interventions at school was investigated. Using a 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design, 92 children between the ages of 11 and 12 years (M = 11.77, SD = 0.41) were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions: (1) combo group (physical activity with high cognitive demands), (2) cognition group (sedentary with high cognitive demands), (3) physical group (physical activity with low cognitive demands), and (4) control group (sedentary with low cognitive demands). Attention and affect were measured before and immediately after a 10-min intervention. ANCOVAs revealed that whereas physical exertion had no effect on any measure of children's attentional performance, cognitive engagement was the crucial factor leading to increased focused attention and enhanced processing speed. Mediational analyses showed that changes in positive affect during the interventions mediated the effect between cognitive engagement and focused attention as well as between cognitive engagement and processing speed. These surprising results are discussed in the light of theories predicting both facilitating and deteriorative effects of positive affect on attention.
Highlights
VariablesThe German version (Watzlawik, 2009) of the Pubertal Development Scale (PDS; Petersen et al, 1988) was used to assess pubertal status
In the ratings of perceived cognitive engagement (RCE), the conditions manipulated to be high in cognitive engagement (CE) were perceived to be more cognitively engaging than the ones manipulated to be low in CE [F(1, 90) = 14.62, p < 0.0005, η2p = 0.140]
The present study aimed to investigate the separate and/or combined effects of physical exertion (PE) and cognitive engagement (CE) induced by acute physical activity breaks on primary school children’s attention
Summary
The German version (Watzlawik, 2009) of the Pubertal Development Scale (PDS; Petersen et al, 1988) was used to assess pubertal status. This scale consists of three questions for each gender, a sample question for boys being: “Have you noticed a deepening of your voice?” Response options are: not yet started (1 point); barely started (2 points); definitely started (3 points); seems complete (4 points). From the sum of the three items, the puberty index (ranging from 3 to 12) was calculated. Evidence for acceptable reliability and validity of the German version used in 9- to 13-year-old children has been provided by Watzlawik (2009). The scale has been demonstrated to have acceptable reliability and validity (Boudreau and Poulin, 2009)
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