Effects of a physical education intervention on cognitive function in young children: randomized controlled pilot study
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Background: Randomized controlled trials (RCT) are required to test relationships between physical activity and cognition in children, but these must be informed by exploratory studies. This study aimed to inform future RCT by: conducting practical utility and reliability studies to identify appropriate cognitive outcome measures; piloting an RCT of a 10 week physical education (PE) intervention which involved 2 hours per week of aerobically intense PE compared to 2 hours of standard PE (control). Methods: 64 healthy children (mean age 6.2 yrs SD 0.3; 33 boys) recruited from 6 primary schools. Outcome measures were the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Battery (CANTAB), the Attention Network Test (ANT), the Cognitive Assessment System (CAS) and the short form of the Connor's Parent Rating Scale (CPRS:S). Physical activity was measured habitually and during PE sessions using the Actigraph accelerometer. Results: Test- retest intraclass correlations from CANTAB Spatial Span (r 0.51) and Spatial Working Memory Errors (0.59) and ANT Reaction Time (0.37) and ANT Accuracy (0.60) were significant, but low. Physical activity was significantly higher during intervention vs. control PE sessions (p < 0.0001). There were no significant differences between intervention and control group changes in CAS scores. Differences between intervention and control groups favoring the intervention were observed for CANTAB Spatial Span, CANTAB Spatial Working Memory Errors, and ANT Accuracy. Conclusions: The present study has identified practical and age-appropriate cognitive and behavioral outcome measures for future RCT, and identified that schools are willing to increase PE time. Trial registration number: ISRCTN70853932 (http://www.controlled-trials.com)
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Several studies have identified a positive relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness, weight and AP, or with overall physical fitness.
“Several studies have identified a positive relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness, weight and AP (46–49) or with overall physical fitness (82).”
From Children's Physical Activity, Academic Performance, and Cognitive Functioning: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2020) · cites this paper as [46]
The Background (page unavailable) says that higher physical fitness in children may be associated with improved neurocognitive processing and that more school physical education may enhance academic attainment. It does not report a positive relationship linking cardiorespiratory fitness, weight, and academic performance; the study measured physical activity and cognitive outcomes rather than that three-way relationship. (LLM, conf=0.83)
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- Authors
- Fisher, A., Boyle, J. M., Paton, J. Y., Tomporowski, P., Watson, C., McColl, J. H., & Reilly, J. J.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- University of Strathclyde (GB)
- University of Glasgow (GB)
- University of Georgia (US)
- Glasgow City Council (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Reilly, John J
- Venue
- BMC Pediatrics
- Published
- 2011-10-28
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 97-97
- ISSN
- 1471-2431 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3217848
- OpenAlex
- W2039422753
- Cited by
- 127
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 5.67
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- BMC Pediatrics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Strathprints: The University of Strathclyde institutional repository (University of Strathclyde) (acceptedVersion)
- ENLIGHTEN (Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam) (acceptedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Children's Physical and Motor Development
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation › Physical Education and Pedagogy
- Keywords
- physical education intervention, cognitive function, young children, physical activity and cognition, test-retest reliability, outcome measure selection, spatial working memory, attention, elementary school students, accelerometer-measured activity
- MeSH terms
- Child, Cognition, Physical Exertion, Female, Humans, Male, Neuropsychological Tests, Physical Education and Training, Pilot Projects
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