Effects of acute bouts of physical activity on children's attention: a systematic review of the literature
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The aim of this review was to describe the effects of acute bouts of physical activity on attention levels of children. A systematic review was performed of English studies from searches in PubMed, Sportdiscus and PsycINFO from 1990 to (May) 2014 according to the PRISMA statement. Only prospective studies of children aged 4-18 years old were included, detailing acute effects of physical activity bouts with the primary outcome attention. One reviewer extracted data on the study characteristics. Two reviewers conducted the methodological quality assessment independently using a criteria checklist, which was based on the Downs and Black checklist for non-randomised studies. Overall the evidence is thin and inconclusive. The methodological differences in study sample (size and age), study design and measurement of attention make it difficult to compare results. There is weak evidence for the effect of acute bouts of physical activity on attention. More experimental studies with a comparable methodology, especially in the school setting, are needed to strengthen this evidence.
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Studies show a small, transient improvement in cognition after a single acute bout of physical activity, with effect sizes from 0.014 to 0.67 across six systematic reviews and meta-analyses summarizing 12 to 79 studies.
“Studies demonstrate a small, transient improvement in cognition following the cessation of a single, acute bout of PA, with effect sizes (Cohen’s d, Cohen’s k, and Hedges’ g) ranging from 0.014 to 0.67 across six SRs and meta-analyses that summarized 12-79 studies (27, 65–68).”
From Physical Activity, Cognition, and Brain Outcomes: A Review of the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines (2019) · cites this paper as [27]
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References 38 · Cited by 66
- Authors
- Janssen, M., Toussaint, H. M., van Mechelen, W., & Verhagen, E. A.
- Affiliations
- Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (NL)
- Amsterdam Public Health (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Janssen, Mirka
- Venue
- SpringerPlus
- Published
- 2014-08-05
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 410-410
- ISSN
- 2193-1801 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4132441
- OpenAlex
- W2122424972
- Cited by
- 66
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 3
- FWCI
- 0.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- SpringerPlus (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Amsterdam UMC (VU Amsterdam) - Institutional Repository (publishedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Pure Amsterdam UMC (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (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 › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Keywords
- acute exercise, children, attention, exercise and cognition, elementary school students, methodological quality
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