Effects of Acute and Chronic Exercises on Executive Function in Children and Adolescents: A Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Background: Physical exercises can affect executive function both acutely and chronically, with different mechanisms for each moment. Currently, only a few reviews have elaborated on the premise that different types of exercises have different mechanisms for improving executive function. Therefore, the primary purpose of our systematic review was to analyze the effects of acute and chronic exercises on executive function in children and adolescents.Objective: We identified acute and chronic exercise studies and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of executive function in children and adolescents that reported overall effect, heterogeneity, and publication bias of acute and chronic exercises on executive function.Methods: We searched for RCTs of exercise interventions in children and adolescents from databases including PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, The Cochrane Library, CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure), and Wanfang, from January 1 2009 to December 31 2019. We performed methodological quality evaluations on the included literature using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database Scale (PEDro) and graded evidence with a meta-analysis using Stata 12.0 software.Results: In total, 36 RCTs were included (14 acute exercises, 22 chronic exercises); the overall results of the meta-analysis (4,577 students) indicated that acute exercises significantly improved working memory (standardized mean difference (SMD) = −0.72; 95% confidence interval (CI) −0.89 to −0.56; p < 0.001), inhibitory control (SMD = −0.25; 95% CI −0.40 to −0.09; p = 0.002), and cognitive flexibility (SMD = −0.34; 95% CI −0.55 to −0.14; p < 0.005), whereas chronic exercises significantly improved working memory (SMD = −0.54; 95% CI −0.74 to −0.33; p < 0.001), inhibitory control (SMD = −0.30; 95% CI −0.38 to −0.22; p < 0.001), and cognitive flexibility (SMD = −0.34, 95 % CI −0.48 to −0.20, p < 0.001).Conclusion: Acute and chronic exercises can effectively improve the executive function of children and adolescents. The effects on inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility are considered as small effect sizes, while the effects on working memory are considered as moderate effect size. Limited by the quantity and quality of the included studies, the above conclusions need to be verified with more high-quality studies.

The Effect of Acute High-Intensity Interval Training on Executive Function: A Systematic Review

“…For understanding potential moderators, the review further utilized the percentages of positive and null/negative effects. EF outcomes were extracted and response time (RT) data was included, if RT and accuracy were simultaneously coexisting [ 39 ]. We further categorized potential moderators into three groups to examine their possible moderating role in the effects of acute HIIT on EF (with the three categories being EF assessment characteristics, exercise intervention characteristics, and sample and study characteristics).…”

The Effect of Acute Aerobic Exercise on Divergent and Convergent Thinking and Its Influence by Mood

“…Before solving these problems in the pre-test, all subjects first went through a training session to ensure that all were familiar with Roman numerals. They were instructed to study a correspondence table between modern numerals (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15) and Roman numerals (I through XV) until they passed two tests: in the first test, they were presented all the fifteen modern numerals in random order and asked to write down the corresponding Roman numerals; in the second test, vice versa, they were presented with all the Roman numerals and asked to write down the corresponding modern numerals.…”

“…A growing body of research has investigated the positive impact of a single bout of physical exercise on cognitive functions (for a meta-analysis, [1][2][3][4][5]; for a narrative review, [6][7][8]). For instance, a single bout of aerobic exercise may improve attention and executive functions [2,4,5], boost the speed of information processing [3], and enhance memory storage and retrieval [1].…”

“…A growing body of research has investigated the positive impact of a single bout of physical exercise on cognitive functions (for a meta-analysis, [1][2][3][4][5]; for a narrative review, [6][7][8]). For instance, a single bout of aerobic exercise may improve attention and executive functions [2,4,5], boost the speed of information processing [3], and enhance memory storage and retrieval [1]. Several neurobiological mechanisms have been proposed to explain these cognitive benefits, including increased production or release of lactate, cortisol, neurotrophins (e.g., BDNF, IGF-1), and neurotransmitters (e.g., serotonin, dopamine, endocannabinoids) as well as functional hemodynamic brain changes (particularly in the prefrontal cortex) following exercise [7,[9][10][11][12].…”

Effects of Sport-Based Interventions on Children’s Executive Function: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…It enhances the ability to respond to environmental demands, influencing physical health, school success, cognitive, social, and psychological development [6]. The development of this ability in children and adolescents is associated with physical activity and sport [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. This issue has been studied based upon athletic performance, focusing on the identification of variables that improve success at the competitive level [16,[18][19][20][21][22][23].…”