Cargando…

Cognitive and physiological effects of an acute physical activity intervention in elementary school children

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of an acute physical activity intervention that included cognitive engagement on executive functions and on cortisol level in young elementary school children. Half of the 104 participating children (6–8 years old) attended a 20-min sport s...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Jäger, Katja, Schmidt, Mirko, Conzelmann, Achim, Roebers, Claudia M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4270126/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25566148
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01473
_version_ 1782349447160659968
author Jäger, Katja
Schmidt, Mirko
Conzelmann, Achim
Roebers, Claudia M.
author_facet Jäger, Katja
Schmidt, Mirko
Conzelmann, Achim
Roebers, Claudia M.
author_sort Jäger, Katja
collection PubMed
description The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of an acute physical activity intervention that included cognitive engagement on executive functions and on cortisol level in young elementary school children. Half of the 104 participating children (6–8 years old) attended a 20-min sport sequence, which included cognitively engaging and playful forms of physical activity. The other half was assigned to a resting control condition. Individual differences in children's updating, inhibition, and shifting performance as well as salivary cortisol were assessed before (pre-test), immediately after (post-test), and 40 min after (follow-up) the intervention or control condition, respectively. Results revealed a significantly stronger improvement in inhibition in the experimental group compared to the control group, while it appeared that acute physical activity had no specific effect on updating and shifting. The intervention effect on inhibition leveled out 40 min after physical activity. Salivary cortisol increased significantly more in the experimental compared to the control group between post-test and follow-up and results support partly the assumed inverted U-shaped relationship between cortisol level and cognitive performance. In conclusion, results indicate that acute physical activity that includes cognitive engagement may have immediate positive effects on inhibition, but not necessarily on updating and shifting in elementary school children. This positive effect may partly be explained through cortisol elevation after acute physical activity.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4270126
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2014
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-42701262015-01-06 Cognitive and physiological effects of an acute physical activity intervention in elementary school children Jäger, Katja Schmidt, Mirko Conzelmann, Achim Roebers, Claudia M. Front Psychol Psychology The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of an acute physical activity intervention that included cognitive engagement on executive functions and on cortisol level in young elementary school children. Half of the 104 participating children (6–8 years old) attended a 20-min sport sequence, which included cognitively engaging and playful forms of physical activity. The other half was assigned to a resting control condition. Individual differences in children's updating, inhibition, and shifting performance as well as salivary cortisol were assessed before (pre-test), immediately after (post-test), and 40 min after (follow-up) the intervention or control condition, respectively. Results revealed a significantly stronger improvement in inhibition in the experimental group compared to the control group, while it appeared that acute physical activity had no specific effect on updating and shifting. The intervention effect on inhibition leveled out 40 min after physical activity. Salivary cortisol increased significantly more in the experimental compared to the control group between post-test and follow-up and results support partly the assumed inverted U-shaped relationship between cortisol level and cognitive performance. In conclusion, results indicate that acute physical activity that includes cognitive engagement may have immediate positive effects on inhibition, but not necessarily on updating and shifting in elementary school children. This positive effect may partly be explained through cortisol elevation after acute physical activity. Frontiers Media S.A. 2014-12-18 /pmc/articles/PMC4270126/ /pubmed/25566148 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01473 Text en Copyright © 2014 Jäger, Schmidt, Conzelmann and Roebers. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Jäger, Katja
Schmidt, Mirko
Conzelmann, Achim
Roebers, Claudia M.
Cognitive and physiological effects of an acute physical activity intervention in elementary school children
title Cognitive and physiological effects of an acute physical activity intervention in elementary school children
title_full Cognitive and physiological effects of an acute physical activity intervention in elementary school children
title_fullStr Cognitive and physiological effects of an acute physical activity intervention in elementary school children
title_full_unstemmed Cognitive and physiological effects of an acute physical activity intervention in elementary school children
title_short Cognitive and physiological effects of an acute physical activity intervention in elementary school children
title_sort cognitive and physiological effects of an acute physical activity intervention in elementary school children
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4270126/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25566148
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01473
work_keys_str_mv AT jagerkatja cognitiveandphysiologicaleffectsofanacutephysicalactivityinterventioninelementaryschoolchildren
AT schmidtmirko cognitiveandphysiologicaleffectsofanacutephysicalactivityinterventioninelementaryschoolchildren
AT conzelmannachim cognitiveandphysiologicaleffectsofanacutephysicalactivityinterventioninelementaryschoolchildren
AT roebersclaudiam cognitiveandphysiologicaleffectsofanacutephysicalactivityinterventioninelementaryschoolchildren