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Cited by 845Physical Activity and HealthNeural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesCardiovascular and exercise physiology

The effect of acute treadmill walking on cognitive control and academic achievement in preadolescent children

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Hillman, C.H., Pontifex, M.B., Raine, L.B., Castelli, D.M., Hall, E.E., Kramer, A.F.·2009·Neuroscience
DOI 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2009.01.057PMC PMC2667807
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Abstract

The effect of an acute bout of moderate treadmill walking on behavioral and neuroelectric indexes of the cognitive control of attention and applied aspects of cognition involved in school-based academic performance were assessed. A within-subjects design included 20 preadolescent participants (age=9.5+/-0.5 years; eight female) to assess exercise-induced changes in performance during a modified flanker task and the Wide Range Achievement Test 3. The resting session consisted of cognitive testing followed by a cardiorespiratory fitness assessment to determine aerobic fitness. The exercise session consisted of 20 min of walking on a motor-driven treadmill at 60% of estimated maximum heart rate followed by cognitive testing once heart rate returned to within 10% of pre-exercise levels. Results indicated an improvement in response accuracy, larger P3 amplitude, and better performance on the academic achievement test following aerobic exercise relative to the resting session. Collectively, these findings indicate that single, acute bouts of moderately-intense aerobic exercise (i.e. walking) may improve the cognitive control of attention in preadolescent children, and further support the use of moderate acute exercise as a contributing factor for increasing attention and academic performance. These data suggest that single bouts of exercise affect specific underlying processes that support cognitive health and may be necessary for effective functioning across the lifespan.

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  • The practice of physical activity improves academic performance.

    “the practice of physical activity improves academic performance [7,8,9].”

    From Lifestyle Habits Predict Academic Performance in High School Students: The Adolescent Student Academic Performance Longitudinal Study (ASAP) (2019) · cites this paper as [8]

    The Discussion reports better reading achievement after a single bout of exercise in preadolescent children, but spelling and mathematics were unaffected. This supports an improvement in one measured aspect of academic performance, not the unqualified claim that physical activity improves academic performance generally. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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  • The effects largely depend on different moderators, such as outcome measure, duration or effects were only found in a subgroup.

    “The effects largely depend on different moderators, such as outcome measure, 40,41,45,49 duration 46 or effects were only found in a subgroup.39,41,44”

    From Effects of physical activity on executive functions, attention and academic performance in preadolescent children: a meta-analysis (2018) · cites this paper as [45]

    The Results (Achievement Test Performance; Task Performance; pages unavailable) show outcome-dependent effects: exercise improved reading but not spelling or arithmetic, and response accuracy but not reaction time. Accuracy improved significantly only on incongruent trials, which is a task condition rather than a subgroup of children. The paper therefore does not establish that effects were found only in a participant subgroup. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Variability in how physical activity is measured and quantified can produce heterogeneous results and erroneous conclusions.

    “the considerable variability in how PA is measured and quantified across studies can often lead to heterogeneity of results and erroneous conclusions (86).”

    From Physical Activity, Cognition, and Brain Outcomes: A Review of the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines (2019) · cites this paper as [86]

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1 of the 83 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Eriksen BA Eriksen CE 1974 Effects of noise letters in the identification of target letters in a non-search task Percept Psychophys 16 143 149

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Authors
Hillman, C. H., Pontifex, M. B., Raine, L. B., Castelli, D. M., Hall, E. E., & Kramer, A. F.
Affiliations
  • University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
  • Elon University (US)
Corresponding author
Hillman, C.H.
ORCID
Venue
Neuroscience
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2009-03
Volume
159
Issue
3
Pages
1044-1054
ISSN
0306-4522 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.neuroscience.2009.01.057
PMC
PMC2667807
OpenAlex
W2171211600
Cited by
845
References
83
Citations by year
2026: 33 · 2025: 45 · 2024: 48 · 2023: 51 · 2022: 53 · 2021: 49 · 2020: 56 · 2019: 61 · 2018: 72 · 2017: 53 · 2016: 67 · 2015: 60 · 2014: 59 · 2013: 41 · 2012: 47
FWCI
20.98
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institute on Aging (R01 AG 25667, R01AG025032, R01 AG25302, R01AG025667, R01AG025302, R37AG025667)
  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD055352, R01 HD060385, R01HD069381)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Cardiovascular and exercise physiology
Keywords
acute aerobic exercise, treadmill walking, cognitive control, attention, academic performance, preadolescents, P300 amplitude, flanker task, Wide Range Achievement Test, exercise and cognition, cardiorespiratory fitness
MeSH terms
Analysis of Variance, Attention, Brain, Child, Cognition, Electroencephalography, Female, Heart Rate, Humans, Male, Neuropsychological Tests, Reaction Time, Time Factors, Exercise, Walking, Event-Related Potentials, P300

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