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Motor Skills and Exercise Capacity Are Associated with Objective Measures of Cognitive Functions and Academic Performance in Preadolescent Children
OBJECTIVE: To investigate associations between motor skills, exercise capacity and cognitive functions, and evaluate how they correlate to academic performance in mathematics and reading comprehension using standardised, objective tests. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 423 Danish childr...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2016
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4999315/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27560512 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0161960 |
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author | Geertsen, Svend Sparre Thomas, Richard Larsen, Malte Nejst Dahn, Ida Marie Andersen, Josefine Needham Krause-Jensen, Matilde Korup, Vibeke Nielsen, Claus Malta Wienecke, Jacob Ritz, Christian Krustrup, Peter Lundbye-Jensen, Jesper |
author_facet | Geertsen, Svend Sparre Thomas, Richard Larsen, Malte Nejst Dahn, Ida Marie Andersen, Josefine Needham Krause-Jensen, Matilde Korup, Vibeke Nielsen, Claus Malta Wienecke, Jacob Ritz, Christian Krustrup, Peter Lundbye-Jensen, Jesper |
author_sort | Geertsen, Svend Sparre |
collection | PubMed |
description | OBJECTIVE: To investigate associations between motor skills, exercise capacity and cognitive functions, and evaluate how they correlate to academic performance in mathematics and reading comprehension using standardised, objective tests. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 423 Danish children (age: 9.29±0.35 years, 209 girls). Fine and gross motor skills were evaluated in a visuomotor accuracy-tracking task, and a whole-body coordination task, respectively. Exercise capacity was estimated from the Yo-Yo intermittent recovery level 1 children's test (YYIR1C). Selected tests from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) were used to assess different domains of cognitive functions, including sustained attention, spatial working memory, episodic and semantic memory, and processing speed. Linear mixed-effects models were used to investigate associations between these measures and the relationship with standard tests of academic performance in mathematics and reading comprehension. RESULTS: Both fine and gross motor skills were associated with better performance in all five tested cognitive domains (all P<0.001), whereas exercise capacity was only associated with better sustained attention (P<0.046) and spatial working memory (P<0.038). Fine and gross motor skills (all P<0.001), exercise capacity and cognitive functions such as working memory, episodic memory, sustained attention and processing speed were all associated with better performance in mathematics and reading comprehension. CONCLUSIONS: The data demonstrate that fine and gross motor skills are positively correlated with several aspects of cognitive functions and with academic performance in both mathematics and reading comprehension. Moreover, exercise capacity was associated with academic performance and performance in some cognitive domains. Future interventions should investigate associations between changes in motor skills, exercise capacity, cognitive functions, and academic performance to elucidate the causality of these associations. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4999315 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2016 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-49993152016-09-12 Motor Skills and Exercise Capacity Are Associated with Objective Measures of Cognitive Functions and Academic Performance in Preadolescent Children Geertsen, Svend Sparre Thomas, Richard Larsen, Malte Nejst Dahn, Ida Marie Andersen, Josefine Needham Krause-Jensen, Matilde Korup, Vibeke Nielsen, Claus Malta Wienecke, Jacob Ritz, Christian Krustrup, Peter Lundbye-Jensen, Jesper PLoS One Research Article OBJECTIVE: To investigate associations between motor skills, exercise capacity and cognitive functions, and evaluate how they correlate to academic performance in mathematics and reading comprehension using standardised, objective tests. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 423 Danish children (age: 9.29±0.35 years, 209 girls). Fine and gross motor skills were evaluated in a visuomotor accuracy-tracking task, and a whole-body coordination task, respectively. Exercise capacity was estimated from the Yo-Yo intermittent recovery level 1 children's test (YYIR1C). Selected tests from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) were used to assess different domains of cognitive functions, including sustained attention, spatial working memory, episodic and semantic memory, and processing speed. Linear mixed-effects models were used to investigate associations between these measures and the relationship with standard tests of academic performance in mathematics and reading comprehension. RESULTS: Both fine and gross motor skills were associated with better performance in all five tested cognitive domains (all P<0.001), whereas exercise capacity was only associated with better sustained attention (P<0.046) and spatial working memory (P<0.038). Fine and gross motor skills (all P<0.001), exercise capacity and cognitive functions such as working memory, episodic memory, sustained attention and processing speed were all associated with better performance in mathematics and reading comprehension. CONCLUSIONS: The data demonstrate that fine and gross motor skills are positively correlated with several aspects of cognitive functions and with academic performance in both mathematics and reading comprehension. Moreover, exercise capacity was associated with academic performance and performance in some cognitive domains. Future interventions should investigate associations between changes in motor skills, exercise capacity, cognitive functions, and academic performance to elucidate the causality of these associations. Public Library of Science 2016-08-25 /pmc/articles/PMC4999315/ /pubmed/27560512 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0161960 Text en © 2016 Geertsen et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Geertsen, Svend Sparre Thomas, Richard Larsen, Malte Nejst Dahn, Ida Marie Andersen, Josefine Needham Krause-Jensen, Matilde Korup, Vibeke Nielsen, Claus Malta Wienecke, Jacob Ritz, Christian Krustrup, Peter Lundbye-Jensen, Jesper Motor Skills and Exercise Capacity Are Associated with Objective Measures of Cognitive Functions and Academic Performance in Preadolescent Children |
title | Motor Skills and Exercise Capacity Are Associated with Objective Measures of Cognitive Functions and Academic Performance in Preadolescent Children |
title_full | Motor Skills and Exercise Capacity Are Associated with Objective Measures of Cognitive Functions and Academic Performance in Preadolescent Children |
title_fullStr | Motor Skills and Exercise Capacity Are Associated with Objective Measures of Cognitive Functions and Academic Performance in Preadolescent Children |
title_full_unstemmed | Motor Skills and Exercise Capacity Are Associated with Objective Measures of Cognitive Functions and Academic Performance in Preadolescent Children |
title_short | Motor Skills and Exercise Capacity Are Associated with Objective Measures of Cognitive Functions and Academic Performance in Preadolescent Children |
title_sort | motor skills and exercise capacity are associated with objective measures of cognitive functions and academic performance in preadolescent children |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4999315/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27560512 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0161960 |
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