Preschool physical activity and fitness predicts conceptual, verbal and perceptual skills at school

Longitudinal Associations of Body Fatness and Physical Fitness with Cognitive Skills in Preschoolers

A good cognitive status predicts academic, professional, and health outcomes. However, longitudinal data regarding the associations of body fatness, physical fitness, and cognition are relatively scarce and mixed. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to investigate whether body fatness, cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), and muscular fitness (MF) in preschool are associated with cognitive skills in the first grade of school. A total of 133 South Estonian children whose age was 6-7 years were recruited from 13 kindergartens and again at 7-8 years after they had entered school. Body fat percentage (BF%), CRF, MF as the mean of z-scores of relative upper-limb strength, standing long jump results, and cognitive skills (verbal, conceptual, and perceptual) were studied. There were no associations between BF% and CRF in preschool with perceptual, conceptual, or verbal skills in school in boys and girls. In boys, a higher MF in preschool was associated with higher verbal skills (β = 0.293, p = 0.021) in school after adjustment for confounders. Cognitive skills at baseline seemed to be frequently associated with cognitive performance in school. In conclusion, higher MF in preschool was associated with better verbal skills in the first grade of school in boys but not in girls. Body fatness and cardiorespiratory fitness in preschool were not associated with cognitive skills in school.

Can Physical Exercise Promote the Development of Teenagers' Non-Cognitive Ability?-Evidence from China Education Panel Survey (2014-2015)

Background: With the development of educational philosophy, physical exercise is considered to be an important factor in the development of individual cognitive abilities in adolescents. However, the effects of physical exercise on non-cognitive abilities in adolescents remain inadequate. Objective: This study examined the effect of physical exercise on non-cognitive ability and further examined the differences in this effect in different groups. Methods: Survey data on non-cognitive ability, physical exercise and covariates were collected in the China Education Panel Survey (2014−2015) from a nationally representative sample of adolescents (n = 7904) in the eighth (follow-up) grade. Results: The results show that, after controlling for the influence of other factors, physical exercise has a promoting effect on six non-cognitive abilities—social behavior (p < 0.001), communication ability (p < 0.01), perseverance (p < 0.05), school adaptation (p < 0.001), educational expectation (p < 0.01) and creative thinking (p < 0.01)—and there is no significant effect on emotional control (p > 0.05). Furthermore, the development of non-cognitive ability in physical exercise shows certain group differences. Conclusions: There are gender differences in the performance of non-cognitive ability. Girls perform better than boys in non-cognitive ability. Physical exercise is an important means to develop non-cognitive ability, which indicates that non-cognitive ability has plasticity in adolescence. Future intervention may improve the non-cognitive ability of Chinese adolescents by increasing physical exercise.

Associations between Fundamental Movement Skills, Physical Fitness, Motor Competency, Physical Activity, and Executive Functions in Pre-School Age Children: A Systematic Review

Previous empirical research and reviews have suggested that the level of fundamental movement skills (FMS), motor competence (MC), physical activity (PA), or physical fitness seem to directly influence the executive functions (EFs) in school aged children. However, there is no available comprehensive review of whether the exact links between motor constructs and EFs also exist in the preschool period, even though preschool age is the critical period for developing EFs. Therefore, this study aimed to systematically review the evidence on the association between FMS, MC, PA, PF, and EFs. To conduct the systematic review, we utilized searches using Web of Science, PubMed, and EBSCO (including SPORTDiscus and Academic Search Premier). We included studies that examined associations between one or all of the four motor constructs with EFs among typically developing children aged 3–6 years, published between January 2010 and October 2021. A total of 15 studies met the inclusion criteria, of which four were randomized controlled trials, three were longitudinal studies, four were cohort studies, and four were cross-sectional studies. We found weak correlations or insufficient evidence for associations between FMS, PA, PF, and EFs. However, there was strong evidence for a moderately strong association between MC and working memory, a moderately weak association between MC and inhibition, and inadequate evidence for a weak to moderate association between MC and shifting. In addition, only half of the included studies were methodologically high-quality studies. Specifically, a questionable design selection of research samples might bias the strength of evaluated associations. We also found significant diversity in the diagnostic tools used for assessing and measuring motor and EFs domains. Our findings support the assumption that motor competencies level, which contains physical capacity and cognitive components, could be significantly linked to EF development from a preschool age. Therefore, we suggest that future studies focus more on clinical trial design, combining movement interventions with different levels of cognitive components, for the purposive development of EFs in preschool-aged children.

The relationship of muscular endurance and coordination and dexterity with behavioral and neuroelectric indices of attention in preschool children

This study investigated the associations of non-aerobic fitness (NAF) and motor competence (MC) with attention in 4–6 year-old preschoolers. The allocation of attentional resources and speed of stimulus categorization were examined using the amplitude and latency of P3 of event-related potentials respectively, while cortical activation related to general attention and task-specific discriminative processes were examined using event-related desynchronization (ERD) at lower (8–10 Hz) and upper (10–12 Hz) alpha frequencies, respectively. Seventy-six preschoolers completed NAF (muscular power, muscular endurance, flexibility, balance) and MC (coordination and dexterity, ball skills, agility and balance) test batteries. Electroencephalogram was recorded while participants performed an auditory oddball task. After controlling for age and MC, muscular endurance was positively related to P3 amplitude. MC and its coordination and dexterity sub-component were positively related to task performance, with higher levels of coordination and dexterity showing an additional association with greater upper alpha ERD between 700 and 1000 ms following stimulus onset after controlling for age and NAF. These findings suggest relationships of NAF and MC with early childhood neurocognitive function. Specifically, muscular endurance is related to the neuroinhibition in facilitating effective allocation of attentional resources to stimulus evaluation while coordination and dexterity are related to cortical activation underlying strategic attentional preparation for subsequent stimulus evaluation.

The association between the health-related physical fitness and inhibitory control in preschool children

Background

Inhibitory control develops rapidly during the preschool stage, and development of inhibitory control in this period is significant for the healthy growth of the future. However, most studies paid more attention to children and adolescents in recent years, but less focus on preschool children. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the association between the health-related physical fitness and inhibitory control in preschool children.

Methods

This cross-sectional study was based on a baseline data from randomized controlled trial by cluster sampling(including 128 preschoolers, 70 boys, 58girls).The health-related physical fitness T-score (HPFT) was obtained by adding standard scores of six indicators: body mass index, handgrip strength, standing long jump, one-leg balance, 2 × 10 m shuttle run test, and 20 m shuttle run test. Inhibitory control was assessed using the flanker task and reflected by reaction time and accuracy.

Results

A total of 120 preschoolers were included in the final statistical analysis. After adjusting the confounders, HPFT was associated with reaction time (β=-2.49 ms, 95%CI: -4.22, -0.75). Similarly, a negative association was observed between one-leg balance and reaction time (β=-12.04 ms, 95%CI: -18.94, -5.15), and between 20 m shuttle run test and reaction time (β=-23.28 ms, 95%CI: -37.00, -9.56). Compared with the participants in the lowest tertile, HPFT (β=-158.74, 95%CI: -309.63, -7.84), one-leg balance (β=-267.25 ms, 95%CI: -420.71, -113.79) and 20 m shuttle run test (β=-215.58 ms, 95%CI: -374.67, -56.49) were all negatively associated with reaction time of those in the highest tertile.

Conclusions

Negative relationships between HPFT and RT of the inhibitory control were observed in preschoolers. To have better inhibitory control, it’s suggested that HPFT of preschoolers should be at least 249. These findings are of great significance for the early improvement of HPFT and the development of inhibitory control in preschool children.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12887-022-03163-y.

Physical Activity, Fitness, and Cognitive Performance of Estonian First-Grade Schoolchildren According Their MVPA Level in Kindergarten: A Longitudinal Study

Little is known about the longitudinal trajectories and associations regarding physical activity (PA), physical fitness (PF), and cognitive skills in childhood. Accelerometer-based PA, sedentary behavior (SB), PF, and cognitive skills were measured in Estonian children (n = 147) in kindergarten (6.6 years) and again at school (7.6 years). Children were subgrouped into lower and upper quartiles by their moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) at 6.6 years. Children in the upper quartile had lower SB, higher PA, and greater muscular strength. Attending school, MVPA in the lower quartile improved. In both subgroups, most strength values and cognitive skills improved, while balance deteriorated in first grade. In the upper quartile, a greater MPA at 6.6 years predicted lower perceptual skills at 7.6 years. A greater SB at 6.6 years predicted higher verbal skills, light and moderate PA and MVPA, and lower verbal skills at 7.6 years after taking into account confounding factors such as the child's sex, age, awake wear time (AWT), maternal education, and/or child's sports participation. A vigorous PA at 6.6 years predicted perceptual (in upper quartile) or verbal (in lower quartile) skills at 7.6 years after controlling for similar confounders. No correlation for PF at 6.6 years and cognitive skills at 7.6 years existed; after adjusting for the above-mentioned confounders relative to upper/lower-limb strength, the 4 × 10 m shuttle run results predicted higher perceptual or verbal skills; static balance and cardiorespiratory fitness predicted lower verbal skills. Cardiorespiratory fitness predicted higher perceptual skills after controlling for sex, age, and AWT. Overall, PA and strength were constantly better and SB lower in the upper quartile, yet the lower quartile demonstrated improved MVPA in first grade, and both subgroups increased most components of their strength and cognitive skills in first grade. Higher levels of VPA at kindergarten predicted either better perceptual or verbal skills in first grade after controlling for confounders; the opposite associations were found for other PA levels and cognitive skills in the higher quartile. PF components at kindergarten predicted either superior or inferior cognitive skills in first grade after adjusting for confounders.