Abstract
Cognitively engaging physical activity (PA) has been suggested to have superior effects on cognition compared to PA with low cognitive demands; however, there have been few studies directly comparing these different types of activities. The aim of this study is to compare the cognitive effects of a combined physically and cognitively engaging bout of PA to a physical or cognitive activity alone in children. Children were randomized in pairs to one of three 20-min conditions: (1) a cognitive sedentary activity; (2) a non-cognitively engaging PA; and a (3) cognitively engaging PA. Executive function (EF) was assessed using a modified Eriksen flanker task immediately before and 10–15 min following the experimental condition. Children ages 6–8 years (n = 48, Mage = 7.04, SD = 1.37; 40% girls) were included in the study. A repeated measures ANOVA found no significant difference between groups with respect to scores on the flanker task. The results do not support the hypotheses that a cognitively engaging bout of PA enhances cognitive performance over non-cognitively engaging PA or sedentary activities. Possible explanations for our findings include overexertion during the acute bout of PA and depletion of positive affect prior to performing the post-intervention EF tasks.
Highlights
Executive functions (EFs) are the cognitive processes that allow us to mentally hold and manipulate information, ignore or suppress cognitive, visual, verbal, and behavioral stimuli, and shift between tasks and perspectives (Diamond, 2013)
There were no significant differences between groups on parental age or income, participant age, sex, ethnicity, global executive composite, body mass index (BMI), baseline motivation, or EF scores
Higher RPE was present in the two physical activity (PA) groups [F(2,45) = 10.98, p < 0.001, partial η2 = 0.33] compared with the cognitive group
Summary
Executive functions (EFs) are the cognitive processes that allow us to mentally hold and manipulate information, ignore or suppress cognitive, visual, verbal, and behavioral stimuli, and shift between tasks and perspectives (Diamond, 2013). These EFs are termed working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility, and together they form the foundations for higher-order functions such as planning, reasoning, and problem solving (Diamond, 2013). Anthropometric measurements of body mass and height were used to compute body mass index (BMI; kg/m2) and International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) guidelines were used to determine the thresholds for thinness, overweight and obesity by age and sex (Cole and Lobstein, 2012)
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