Abstract
The current study investigated the influence of cardiorespiratory fitness on arithmetic cognition in forty 9–10 year old children. Measures included a standardized mathematics achievement test to assess conceptual and computational knowledge, self-reported strategy selection, and an experimental arithmetic verification task (including small and large addition problems), which afforded the measurement of event-related brain potentials (ERPs). No differences in math achievement were observed as a function of fitness level, but all children performed better on math concepts relative to math computation. Higher fit children reported using retrieval more often to solve large arithmetic problems, relative to lower fit children. During the arithmetic verification task, higher fit children exhibited superior performance for large problems, as evidenced by greater d' scores, while all children exhibited decreased accuracy and longer reaction time for large relative to small problems, and incorrect relative to correct solutions. On the electrophysiological level, modulations of early (P1, N170) and late ERP components (P3, N400) were observed as a function of problem size and solution correctness. Higher fit children exhibited selective modulations for N170, P3, and N400 amplitude relative to lower fit children, suggesting that fitness influences symbolic encoding, attentional resource allocation and semantic processing during arithmetic tasks. The current study contributes to the fitness-cognition literature by demonstrating that the benefits of cardiorespiratory fitness extend to arithmetic cognition, which has important implications for the educational environment and the context of learning.
Highlights
Recent research suggests that cardiorespiratory fitness and physical activity (PA) are positively associated with neurocognitive health across the lifespan (Colcombe et al, 2004a,b; Hillman et al, 2005, 2006; Kramer et al, 2006; Pontifex et al, 2009; Smith et al, 2010; Erickson et al, 2011; see Hillman et al, 2008 for review), but the majority of research has focused on adult populations with fewer efforts directed toward understanding the relation of cardiorespiratory fitness and PA to neurocognition during development
Strategy Analysis of strategy revealed a main effect of problem size, indicating that all participants reported relying more on retrieval than procedural strategies for small (m = 2.9 ± 0.5) relative to large problems (m = 2.5 ± 0.7), [F(1, 38) = 10.50, p < 0.01, η2 = 0.21]
The aim of the current study was to extend the literature-base in cardiorespiratory fitness and cognition by assessing strategic, behavioral, and electrophysiological indices of arithmetic cognition in preadolescent children
Summary
Recent research suggests that cardiorespiratory fitness and physical activity (PA) are positively associated with neurocognitive health across the lifespan (Colcombe et al, 2004a,b; Hillman et al, 2005, 2006; Kramer et al, 2006; Pontifex et al, 2009; Smith et al, 2010; Erickson et al, 2011; see Hillman et al, 2008 for review), but the majority of research has focused on adult populations with fewer efforts directed toward understanding the relation of cardiorespiratory fitness and PA to neurocognition during development. What research exists indicates that cardiorespiratory fitness and PA are positively associated with neurocognition during development, with disproportionate benefits witnessed on the behavioral and neural levels for tasks requiring variable amounts of attention and cognitive control (Hillman et al, 2005, 2009; Buck et al, 2008; Chaddock et al, 2011; Pontifex et al, 2011; Voss et al, 2011; Moore et al, 2013). Research efforts have been directed toward understanding the development of arithmetic proficiency on both the behavioral and neural level to understand how this skill set is acquired and effectively maintained across the lifespan (Rips et al, 2008; Imbo and Vandierendonck, 2008; Chen et al, 2013). While several demographic and health factors have been found to mediate arithmetic development and achievement (White, 1982; Geary et al, 2004; Sirin, 2005; Castelli et al, 2007; Chomitz et al, 2009), in general, the development of arithmetic proficiency is characterized by a shift in strategy selection from effortful, inefficient
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