Abstract
One of the most studied aspects of children’s cognitive development is that of the development of the executive function, and research has shown that physical activity has been demonstrated as a key factor in its enhancement. This meta-analysis aims to assess the impact of specific sports interventions on the executive function of children and teenagers. A systematic review was carried out on 1 November 2020 to search for published scientific evidence that analysed different sports programs that possibly affected executive function in students. Longitudinal studies, which assessed the effects of sports interventions on subjects between 6 and 18 years old, were identified through a systematic search of the four principal electronic databases: Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and EBSCO. A total of eight studies, with 424 subjects overall, met the inclusion criteria and were classified based on one or more of the following categories: working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility. The random-effects model for meta-analyses was performed with RevMan version 5.3 to facilitate the analysis of the studies. Large effect sizes were found in all categories: working memory (ES −1.25; 95% CI −1.70; −0.79; p < 0.0001); inhibitory control (ES −1.30; 95% CI −1.98; −0.63; p < 0.00001); and cognitive flexibility (ES −1.52; 95% CI −2.20; −0.83; p < 0.00001). Our analysis concluded that healthy children and teenagers should be encouraged to practice sports in order to improve their executive function at every stage of their development.
Highlights
The executive function is a set of mental processes that enables the regulation of thoughts and actions during goal-directed behaviour [1]
The results obtained in the present meta-analysis show that: (I) while the study of physical activity and executive function is widely studied, the effects of sport on executive function is an emerging line of investigation that requires methodological quality improvements for future research (Table 2); (II) sports programs for healthy children and adolescents have a significant effect on the executive function of the participants
The current meta-analysis demonstrates that sports may have a positive effect on children’s and teenagers’ executive function
Summary
The executive function is a set of mental processes that enables the regulation of thoughts and actions during goal-directed behaviour [1]. It is responsible for monitoring and controlling the mechanisms that mediate the use of information [2]. Inhibition relates to attention and behaviour and prevents our acting under the control of irrelevant environmental stimuli. This allows humans to resist distractions from the environment or memory [1,5]. Cognitive flexibility is the ability to adjust our behaviour appropriately and efficiently according to changes in the environment [8]. Cognitive flexibility interacts with the other components of executive function to respond to the new demands of the proposed task [6,8]
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