Regular physical activity seems to enhance cognition in children who
need it most

Date:
July 15, 2020
Source:
University of Tsukuba
Summary:
Researchers re-analyzed data from three experiments that tested
whether physical activity interventions lead to improved cognitive
skills in children. They found that (1) the benefits of regular
exercise on cognition were greater in children who have poor
cognitive performance before the intervention and (2) spending
time on physical activity did not hinder cognition in children
who already had good cognitive performance before the intervention.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A common school-age stereotype is that smart kids are unathletic. However,
as a recent study lead by Associate Professor Keita Kamijo at the
University of Tsukuba and Assistant Professor Toru Ishihara at Kobe
University shows, physical activity is linked to better cognitive ability, which is in turn related to academic performance in school. Understanding
the effects of physical activity on cognition has been difficult for
several reasons.

"Previous studies looked at the issue too broadly," explains Professor
Kamijo, "When we broke down the data, we were able to see that physical activity helps children the most if they start out with poor executive function."

========================================================================== Executive functions refer to three types of cognitive skills. The first
is the ability to suppress impulses and inhibit reflex-like behaviors
or habits. To assess this ability, children were asked to indicate the
color in which words like "red" and "blue" were displayed on a computer
screen. This is easy when the words and colors match ("red" displayed
in red font), but often requires inhibition of a reflex response when
they don't ("red" displayed in blue font).

The second skill is the ability to hold information in working memory
and process it. This was evaluated by testing how well children could
remember strings of letters that vary in length. The third cognitive
skill is mental flexibility. This was measured by asking children to
frequently switch the rules for categorizing colored circles and squares
from shape-based to color- based.

Professor Kamijo and Professor Ishihara, and their colleagues
re-analyzed the data from previous experiments in which executive
function was assessed in children before and after several months of
daily intervention with physical activity, such as aerobic activities,
ball games, and playing tag. They looked at a factor that was missed in
the initial analyses. That is, they considered whether the effectiveness
of the intervention depended on the initial baseline scores.

The researchers found that cognitive skills, which have been shown to
closely associate with academic performance, improved most in children
whose skills were initially poor. The team also found that increased time
spent doing regular physical activity did not negatively affect cognitive function in children who started out with better cognitive functions.

The finding that daily physical activity can improve executive
function in children who might need it the most has some practical implications. "Because the cognitive functions evaluated in our study
are related to academic performance," says Professor Kamijo, "we can say
that daily physical activity is critical for school-aged children. Our
findings can help educational institutions design appropriate systems
for maximizing the effects of physical activity and exercise."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Tsukuba. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Toru Ishihara, Eric S. Drollette, Sebastian Ludyga, Charles
H. Hillman,
Keita Kamijo. Baseline Cognitive Performance Moderates the Effects
of Physical Activity on Executive Functions in Children. Journal
of Clinical Medicine, 2020; 9 (7): 2071 DOI: 10.3390/jcm9072071 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200715111421.htm

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