Adolescent Changes in Aerobic Fitness Are Related to Changes in Academic Achievement.

There is a growing trend of decreasing physical fitness among adolescents, which may result not only in poorer physical health, but also in poorer academic achievement. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in aerobic fitness and academic achievement in reading and mathematics during middle school. METHODS: This study employed a prospective, longitudinal cross-sectional design. Fifty-two adolescents were followed from sixth grade through eighth grade. In the spring, sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students completed Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run tests measuring aerobic fitness. In addition, students also completed Illinois Standards Achievement Test academic achievement tests in reading and mathematics. RESULTS: Changes in aerobic fitness between sixth and eighth grade were positively related to changes in academic achievement in both reading and mathematics between sixth and eighth grade. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that changes in aerobic fitness may modulate changes in academic achievement. These findings highlight the importance of physical activity and have broad relevance for educational systems and policies.

Aerobic Fitness and Context Processing in Preadolescent Children.

BACKGROUND: There is a growing trend of inactivity among children, which may not only result in poorer physical health but also poorer cognitive health. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between aerobic fitness and proactive and reactive cognitive control using a continuous performance task (CPT). METHODS: Forty-eight 9- to 10-year-old children (n = 24 higher fit [HF] and n = 24 lower fit [LF]) performed an AX-CPT requiring them to respond to target cue-probe pairs (AX) or nontarget pairs (AY, BX, BY) under 2 different trial duration conditions, which modulated working memory demands. RESULTS: Across trials and conditions, HF children had greater accuracy than LF children. For target trials, the long duration resulted in lower accuracy than the short duration. For nontarget trials, an interaction of duration and trial was observed, indicating that the long duration resulted in decreased BX and BY accuracy relative to the short duration. AY trials had greater accuracy during the long duration compared with the short duration. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that fitness may modulate cognitive control strategies during tasks requiring context updating and maintenance, key components of working memory and further support aerobic fitness as a marker of cognitive and brain health in children.

Acute exercise facilitates brain function and cognition in children who need it most: an ERP study of individual differences in inhibitory control capacity.

The present study examined the effects of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise on aspects of cognitive control in two groups of children categorized by higher- and lower-task performance. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were collected in 40 preadolescent children during a modified flanker task following 20 min of treadmill walking and seated rest on separate occasions. Participants were bifurcated into two groups based on task performance following the resting session. Findings revealed that following exercise, higher-performers maintained accuracy and exhibited no change in P3 amplitude compared to seated rest. Lower-performers demonstrated a differential effect, such that accuracy measures improved, and P3 amplitude increased following exercise. Lastly, both groups displayed smaller N2 amplitude and shorter P3 latency following exercise, suggesting an overall facilitation in response conflict and the speed of stimulus classification. The current findings replicate prior research reporting the beneficial influence of acute aerobic exercise on cognitive performance in children. However, children with lower inhibitory control capacity may benefit the most from single bouts of exercise. These data are among the first to demonstrate the differential effect of physical activity on individuals who vary in inhibitory control, and further support the role of aerobic exercise for brain health during development.

The influence of childhood aerobic fitness on learning and memory.

INTRODUCTION: There is a growing trend of inactivity among children, which may not only result in poorer physical health, but also poorer cognitive health. Previous research has shown that lower fitness has been related to decreased cognitive function for tasks requiring perception, memory, and cognitive control as well as lower academic achievement. PURPOSE: To investigate the relationship between aerobic fitness, learning, and memory on a task that involved remembering names and locations on a fictitious map. Different learning strategies and recall procedures were employed to better understand fitness effects on learning novel material. METHODS: Forty-eight 9-10 year old children (n = 24 high fit; HF and n = 24 low fit; LF) performed a task requiring them to learn the names of specific regions on a map, under two learning conditions in which they only studied (SO) versus a condition in which they were tested during study (TS). The retention day occurred one day after initial learning and involved two different recall conditions: free recall and cued recall. RESULTS: There were no differences in performance at initial learning between higher fit and lower fit participants. However, during the retention session higher fit children outperformed lower fit children, particularly when the initial learning strategy involved relatively poor recall performance (i.e., study only versus test-study strategy). CONCLUSIONS: We interpret these novel data to suggest that fitness can boost learning and memory of children and that these fitness-associated performance benefits are largest in conditions in which initial learning is the most challenging. Such data have important implications for both educational practice and policy.

Exercise improves behavioral, neurocognitive, and scholastic performance in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of a single bout of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise on preadolescent children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) using objective measures of attention, brain neurophysiology, and academic performance. STUDY DESIGN: Using a within-participants design, task performance and event-related brain potentials were assessed while participants performed an attentional-control task following a bout of exercise or seated reading during 2 separate, counterbalanced sessions. RESULTS: Following a single 20-minute bout of exercise, both children with ADHD and healthy match control children exhibited greater response accuracy and stimulus-related processing, with the children with ADHD also exhibiting selective enhancements in regulatory processes, compared with after a similar duration of seated reading. In addition, greater performance in the areas of reading and arithmetic were observed following exercise in both groups. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that single bouts of moderately intense aerobic exercise may have positive implications for aspects of neurocognitive function and inhibitory control in children with ADHD.