Play Smart, Be Smart? Effect of Cognitively Engaging Physical Activity Interventions on Executive Function Among Children 4~12 Years Old: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Overview

Journal Brain Sci

Publisher MDPI

Date 2022 Jun 24

PMID 35741648

Authors

Wenjing Song

Leyi Feng

Junwei Wang

Feifei Ma

Jiebo Chen

Sha Qu

Dongmei Luo

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

This paper aims to collect a compendium of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) exploring the effects of cognitively engaging physical activity (PA) interventions (basketball and floorball) on various domain-specific executive functions (EFs) in children aged 4 to 12. Following the PRISMA principle, 11 articles (total sample size: 2053) were analyzed for effect size and moderating impact with Stata 13.0 software. Overall EFs (SMD = 0.21, 95% CI 0.10 to 0.32, p < 0.05), updating (SMD = 0.17, 95% CI 0.03 to 0.30, p < 0.05) and shifting (SMD = 0.32, 95% CI 0.02 to 0.61, p < 0.05) were enhanced by cognitively engaging PA interventions. Age and BMI were found to have no effect on overall EFs performance in Meta regression. Overall EFs performance was improved by interventions with a session length (≥35 min) (SMD = 0.30, 95 % CI 0.10 to 0.49, p = 0.033). The review suggests that despite the moderate effect sizes, cognitively engaging PA may be an effective approach to improving EFs in children aged 4 to 12, especially updating and shifting.

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