Abstract
Research suggests that physical activity can be used as an intervention to increase cognitive function. Yet, there are competing views on the cognitive effects of physical activity and it is not clear what level of consensus exists among researchers in the field. The purpose of this study was two-fold: Firstly, to quantify the scientific consensus by focusing on the relationship between physical activity and cognitive function. Secondly, to investigate if there is a gap between the public’s and scientists’ interpretations of scientific texts on this topic. A two-phase study was performed by including 75 scientists in the first phase and 15 non-scientists in the second phase. Participants were asked to categorize article abstracts in terms of endorsement of the effect of physical activity on cognitive function. Results indicated that there was a 76.1% consensus that physical activity has positive cognitive effects. There was a consistent association between scientists’ and non-scientists’ categorizations, suggesting that both groups perceived abstracts in a similar fashion. Taken together, this study provides the first analysis of its kind to evaluate the level of consensus in almost two decades of research. The present data can be used to inform further research and practice.
Highlights
Over the past decade, the popular, commercial, and scientific interest in physical exercise has grown.According to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association [1], the health club industry revenue was estimated at $87.2 billion in 2017 [1]
There are competing views on the cognitive effects of physical activity and it is not clear what level of consensus exists among researchers in the field
During the first stage of the study, 19 manuscripts were added from the participating scientists in additionfield to the manuscripts they had to rate, adding up to Most a totalresearch of 1063
Summary
The popular, commercial, and scientific interest in physical exercise has grown.According to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association [1], the health club industry revenue was estimated at $87.2 billion in 2017 [1]. In the US alone, the number of health club members in 2017 (n = 60.9 million) has increased by 33.6%, compared to 2008 (n = 45.6 million) [1]. A recent research analysis of news articles found nearly 300 articles claiming that “sitting is the new smoking” [2] Such claims, were found to be inaccurate since “absolute risk differences for smoking far outweigh those for sitting, except for type 2 diabetes” [3]. The fact that physical exercise has gained much attention over the past decade has led to various studies regarding exercise’s effects on the human body. Next to positive effects on health, physical exercise can affect the human brain and cognition.
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