Effect of Vigorous Physical Activity on Executive Control in Middle-School Students

David S. Phillips, James C. Hannon, Bradley B. Gregory and Ryan D. Burns
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David S. Phillips: Secondary and Physical Education Department, Salisbury University, Salisbury, MD 21801, USA
James C. Hannon: College of Education, Health and Human Services, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA
Bradley B. Gregory: Department of Psychology, Palm Beach Atlantic University, West Palm Beach, FL 33401, USA
Ryan D. Burns: Department of Health, Kinesiology, and Recreation, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 20, 1-10

Abstract: The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the acute effect of vigorous physical activity on executive control in eighth grade students from the U.S. Participants were eighth grade students ( N = 68; 26 girls, 42 boys) recruited from one middle school located in the Mountain West region of the U.S. Two groups of participants were assigned to receive either a vigorous physical activity or a sedentary condition within a counter-balanced cross-over design using a 2-week washout. Both groups were administered Trails Making Tests A (TMT-A) and B (TMT-B) at 20- and 25-min post-treatment, respectively. Mixed design ANOVA tests with repeated measures examined differences between treatments on TMT-A and TMT-B performance and the modifying effect of sex. Students who completed the physical activity condition displayed a faster time to completion on the TMT-B compared to students who completed the sedentary condition (Mean difference = −6.5 s, p = 0.026, d = 0.42). There were no differences between treatment groups on TMT-A and no sex × treatment interactions ( p > 0.05). This pilot study suggests that vigorous physical activity may improve executive control in middle-school students and adds to the existent literature that continues to examine the emerging link between physical activity and cognition in school-based settings.

Keywords: cognitive control; intervention; physical activity; schools; students (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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