Abstract
Participation in structured physical activity is assumed to have a positive effect on cognitive and academic performance. A single bout of moderate to vigorous exercise has been found to have a small acute positive effect on the cognitive performance of children and adolescents. However, the dose-response effects of exercise duration are largely unknown. Therefore, the current study examined the acute effects of moderate-to-vigorous exercise with a duration of either 10, 20, or 30 min on selective attention and working memory performance of young adolescents. One hundred and nineteen adolescents (11–14 years old) participated in a randomized, controlled crossover study. Adolescents were assigned to one of the three exercise durations, each paired with a sedentary control session of the same duration. Cognitive performance was measured before and immediately after the exercise and control condition. The Attention Network Test and n-back task were used to measure selective attention and working memory, respectively. There were no significant exercise effects on selective attention (i.e., alerting, orienting, or executive control) or working memory performance measured immediately after the exercise bouts. Furthermore, there were no differential effects of exercise duration. In sum, acute exercise bouts with a duration of 10, 20, or 30 min did not improve, but neither deteriorate cognitive performance of young adolescents compared to a sedentary control condition.
Highlights
The maturation of the adolescent brain is guided by an interaction between genetic and environmental factors (Rosenzweig, 2003; Lenrootand Giedd, 2008)
We found no acute effects of exercise on selective attention and working memory performance and no differential effects of exercise duration, measured immediately after the exercise bouts
We found no differences related to the time between pre- and posttest across the three conditions, further research on dose-response effects should consider to use comparable time frames between testing
Summary
The maturation of the adolescent brain is guided by an interaction between genetic and environmental factors (Rosenzweig, 2003; Lenrootand Giedd, 2008). Among these factors, physical activity (PA) has been well studied, in particular because its potential beneficial effects on cognitive functioning and academic achievement. Besides evidence on the acute effects, meta-analyses of longitudinal studies have shown that engaging in structured PA sessions can have a neutral or positive effect on cognitive functioning in children, and certainly does not harm children’s performance (e.g., Li et al, 2017; Watson et al, 2017; de Greeff et al, 2018)
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