To examine test-retest reliability and internal consistency of a 5-item food insecurity questionn... more To examine test-retest reliability and internal consistency of a 5-item food insecurity questionnaire used in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Researchers administered NHANES's questionnaire in the classroom to 92 fourth-grade children (74 African American; 48 girls) in 2 sessions 27-30 days apart in spring, 2011. Each classroom administration lasted 5-10 minutes. Test-retest reliability was 0.66 (Kendall tau), which is modest. Internal consistency (Cronbach alpha) was .67 and .70 for respective administrations. Food insecurity scores were related to gender (adjusted P = .05) and academic achievement (adjusted P = .004) but not to socioeconomic status or body mass index percentile (binomial regression). On average, boys reported higher food insecurity than girls. Children with lower academic achievement scores reported higher food insecurity than children with higher academic achievement scores. NHANES's 5-item questionnaire may be group adminis...
Dietary recall accuracy is related to retention interval (RI) (i.e., time between to-be-reported ... more Dietary recall accuracy is related to retention interval (RI) (i.e., time between to-be-reported meals and the interview), and possibly to prompts. No study has evaluated their combined effect. The combined influence of RI and prompts on children's recall accuracy was investigated in this study. Two RIs [short (prior-24-h recall obtained in afternoon) and long (previous-day recall obtained in morning)] were crossed with 4 prompts [forward (distant-to-recent), meal-name (breakfast, lunch, etc.), open (no instructions), and reverse (recent-to-distant)], creating 8 conditions. Fourth-grade children (n = 480; 50% girls) were randomly selected from consented children at 10 schools in 4 districts in a southern state during 3 school years (2011-2012, 2012-2013, and 2013-2014). Each child was observed eating school-provided breakfast and lunch, and interviewed one time under 1 of the 8 conditions. Condition assignment was constrained so that each had 60 children (30 girls). Accuracy mea...
This study examined a recently developed short version of the Children's Social Desirability (CSD... more This study examined a recently developed short version of the Children's Social Desirability (CSD-S) scale with 157 fourth-grade children. Of interest was a) whether one-month test-retest reliability would vary as a function of test assessment mode (interview or classroom), gender, race, SES, and BMI percentile, and b) whether the degree of social desirability would vary as a function of these same variables. The CSD-S scale showed good test-retest reliability for both interview and classroom assessment modes (.85 and .83, respectively). Internal consistency also was good (first interview administration = .84; first classroom administration = .81). Reliability was good and did not vary significantly over assessment mode or any child subgroup variables, suggesting that the CSD-S scale is appropriate for general use. The interview mode elicited significantly more socially desirable answers than did the classroom mode. Social desirability did not differ across child subgroups. Some of these findings were examined, and replicated, on another sample. Thus, the CSD-S scale may be used with diverse groups of children to a) reliably assess a social desirability bias that may systematically bias other self-reports of interest to researchers and b) examine individual differences in degree of social desirability.
One approach to understanding model-based reasoning in science is to examine how it develops duri... more One approach to understanding model-based reasoning in science is to examine how it develops during infancy, childhood, and adolescence. The way in which thinking changes sometimes provides clues to its nature. This paper examines cognitive developmental aspects of modeling practices and discusses how a developmental perspective can enrich the study of model-based scientific reasoning in adults. The paper begins with issues concerning developmental change, followed by a model of model-based reasoning. The rest of the paper describes how several key concepts from recent developmental work couM contribute to current work on model-based reasoning. Specifically, developmental research shows that (a) social processes are involved in model-based reasoning and scientific discovery, (b) the development of a theory of mind contributes to the development of scientific reasoning, (c) changes in scientific reasoning are characterized by cognitive variability, and (d) microgenetic methods could clarify conceptual change during model-based reasoning.
The study tested the effect of aerobic exercise training on executive function in overweight chil... more The study tested the effect of aerobic exercise training on executive function in overweight children. Ninety-four sedentary, overweight but otherwise healthy children (mean age = 9.2 years, body mass index 85th percentile) were randomized to a low-dose (20 min/day exercise), high-dose (40 min/day exercise), or control condition. Exercise sessions met 5 days/week for 15 weeks. The Cognitive Assessment System (CAS), a standardized test of cognitive processes, was administered individually before and following intervention. Analysis of covariance on posttest scores revealed effects on executive function. Group differences emerged for the CAS Planning scale (p = .03). Planning scores for the high-dose group were significantly greater than those of the control group. Exercise may prove to be a simple, yet important, method of enhancing aspects of children's mental functioning that are central to cognitive and social development.
Objective: To examine test-retest reliability and internal consistency of the Children's Social D... more Objective: To examine test-retest reliability and internal consistency of the Children's Social Desirability Short (CSD-S) scale, consisting of 14 items from the Children's Social Desirability scale. Methods: The previously validated CSD-S scale was classroom administered to 97 fourth-grade children (80% African American; 76% low socioeconomic status) in 2 sessions a month apart. Each classroom administration lasted approximately 5 minutes. Results: The CSD-S scale showed acceptable levels of test-retest reliability (0.70) and internal consistency (.82 and .85 for the first and second administrations, respectively). Reliability was adequate within subgroups of gender, socioeconomic status, academic achievement, and body mass index percentile. Levels of social desirability did not differ across subgroups. Conclusions and Implications: Social desirability bias is a potential source of systematic response error in children's self-report assessments of nutrition and health-related behaviors. The CSD-S scale may be used with diverse groups of children to reliably and efficiently assess social desirability bias.
Nursery school children (N=64) received seven tests of conservation of number wilich varied in th... more Nursery school children (N=64) received seven tests of conservation of number wilich varied in the type and number of perceptual supports for conservation. Most of the tests with these supports facilitated performance in comparison to the standard conservation test. Conservation appeared earlier than usual. There were significant effects of supports which emphasized correspbndence and deemphasized length cues, unclear effects of the number of objects, and no effect of interest value of the stimuli. There was a set effect; i.e., beginning with the easiest test produced more conservation overall than did beginning with the most difficult test. It was proposed that the development of conservation involves several levels, varying from an early rudimentary understanding of invariance to the final, mature conception of number.
Two studies examined how nonconservers use the dimensions relevant to quantity in the conservatio... more Two studies examined how nonconservers use the dimensions relevant to quantity in the conservation of substance task. Most nonconservers are very selective in their use of the information provided by these dimensions. Most preschool &rid kindergarten nonconservers used length to define amount, while ignoring width. This was true regardless of how extreme the transformations were, in what order children saw the transformations, and whether the transformation was begun anew on each trial or continued from trial to trial. The youngest preschool children, however, were not as likely as the older preschoolers to restrict themselves to the length dimension. The results were interpreted as being counter to Piaget's four-step equilibration model of how compensation and conservation develop.
This article is a commentary on Harriet Waters' discussion, in this issue, of strategy inefficien... more This article is a commentary on Harriet Waters' discussion, in this issue, of strategy inefficiencies and strategy utilization, mediation, and production deficiencies. The author focuses on the importance and meaning of the degree of spontaneity in strategy production, and situates the concept of utilization deficiency within current work on strategy heterogeneity, contextual support, and situation-specific skills.
Recent discussions of strategy development have included the introduction of the concept of utili... more Recent discussions of strategy development have included the introduction of the concept of utilization deficiency. The present analysis examines the definition of utilization deficiency vis-à-vis the older contrasts between mediation and production deficiency and assesses the logical clarity of the current definition. Further, because utilization deficiency focuses on the transition from initial to proficient strategy use, the present analysis considers all of the possible types of strategy inefficiencies and evaluates whether the current definition of utilization deficiency precludes consideration of important strategy inefficiencies that have been documented in the existing literature and are likely to form the bulk of yet-to-be discovered inefficiencies. Although the emphasis on strategy inefficiencies is welcomed, the current analysis concludes that there are serious problems with the current definition of utilization deficiency, problems that both obscure important theoretical distinctions of the past and limit the investigation of strategy inefficiencies that are likely to play an important role in our understanding of the development of strategy use. Furthermore, the linear developmental model that frames utilization deficiencies from no benefit to sophisticated strategy use ignores the heterogeneity in strategy development that has been recently documented.
This review article examines theoretical and methodological issues in the construction of a devel... more This review article examines theoretical and methodological issues in the construction of a developmental perspective on executive function (EF) in childhood and adolescence. Unlike most reviews of EF, which focus on preschoolers, this review focuses on studies that include large age ranges. It outlines the development of the foundational components of EF-inhibition, working memory, and shifting. Cognitive and neurophysiological assessments show that although EF emerges during the first few years of life, it continues to strengthen significantly throughout childhood and adolescence. The components vary somewhat in their developmental trajectories. The article relates the findings to long-standing issues of development (e.g., developmental sequences, trajectories, and processes) and suggests research needed for constructing a developmental framework encompassing early childhood through adolescence.
Studies that examine the effects of exercise on children's intelligence, cognition, or academic a... more Studies that examine the effects of exercise on children's intelligence, cognition, or academic achievement were reviewed and results were discussed in light of (a) contemporary cognitive theory development directed toward exercise, (b) recent research demonstrating the salutary effects of exercise on adults' cognitive functioning, and (c) studies conducted with animals that have linked physical activity to changes in neurological development and behavior. Similar to adults, exercise facilitates children's executive function (i.e., processes required to select, organize, and properly initiate goal-directed actions). Exercise may prove to be a simple, yet important, method of enhancing those aspects of children's mental functioning central to cognitive development.
The purpose of this review is to present a new perspective on children's development of transfer ... more The purpose of this review is to present a new perspective on children's development of transfer of learning. The focus is on transfer of the effectiveness of a skill (i.e., improved performance), rather than just the transfer of the skill (e.g., a strategy) itself. Specifically, we examined the role of strategy utilization deficiencies, along with cognitive capacity, in the transfer of a memory strategy and, especially, strategy effectiveness (increased recall). Executive functions, metacognition, and mindset were considered as mechanisms that can both facilitate and hinder transfer of strategy effectiveness. Implications for theorizing about both transfer and utilization deficiencies were discussed.
This experiment tested the hypothesis that exercise would improve executive function. Design: Sed... more This experiment tested the hypothesis that exercise would improve executive function. Design: Sedentary, overweight 7-to 11-year-old children (N ϭ 171, 56% girls, 61% Black, M Ϯ SD age ϭ 9.3 Ϯ 1.0 years, body mass index [BMI] ϭ 26 Ϯ 4.6 kg/m 2 , BMI z-score ϭ 2.1 Ϯ 0.4) were randomized to 13 Ϯ 1.6 weeks of an exercise program (20 or 40 min/day), or a control condition. Main Outcome Measures: Blinded, standardized psychological evaluations (Cognitive Assessment System and Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement III) assessed cognition and academic achievement. Functional MRI measured brain activity during executive function tasks. Results: Intent to treat analysis revealed dose-response benefits of exercise on executive function and mathematics achievement. Preliminary evidence of increased bilateral prefrontal cortex activity and reduced bilateral posterior parietal cortex activity attributable to exercise was also observed. Conclusion: Consistent with results obtained in older adults, a specific improvement on executive function and brain activation changes attributable to exercise were observed. The cognitive and achievement results add evidence of dose-response and extend experimental evidence into childhood. This study provides information on an educational outcome. Besides its importance for maintaining weight and reducing health risks during a childhood obesity epidemic, physical activity may prove to be a simple, important method of enhancing aspects of children's mental functioning that are central to cognitive development. This information may persuade educators to implement vigorous physical activity.
Research and theorizing on executive function (EF) in childhood has been disproportionately focus... more Research and theorizing on executive function (EF) in childhood has been disproportionately focused on preschool age children. This review paper outlines the importance of examining EF throughout childhood, and even across the lifespan. First, examining EF in older children can address the question of whether EF is a unitary construct. The relations among the EF components, particularly as they are recruited for complex tasks, appear to change over the course of development. Second, much of the development of EF, especially working memory, shifting, and planning, occurs after age 5. Third, important applications of EF research concern the role of school-age children's EF in various aspects of school performance, as well as social functioning and emotional control.
Studies that examine the effects of exercise on children's intelligence, cognition, or academic a... more Studies that examine the effects of exercise on children's intelligence, cognition, or academic achievement were reviewed and results were discussed in light of (a) contemporary cognitive theory development directed toward exercise, (b) recent research demonstrating the salutary effects of exercise on adults' cognitive functioning, and (c) studies conducted with animals that have linked physical activity to changes in neurological development and behavior. Similar to adults, exercise facilitates children's executive function (i.e., processes required to select, organize, and properly initiate goal-directed actions). Exercise may prove to be a simple, yet important, method of enhancing those aspects of children's mental functioning central to cognitive development.
Objective: This experiment tested the hypothesis that exercise would improve executive function. ... more Objective: This experiment tested the hypothesis that exercise would improve executive function. Design: Sedentary, overweight 7-to 11-year-old children (N ϭ 171, 56% girls, 61% Black, M Ϯ SD age ϭ 9.3 Ϯ 1.0 years, body mass index [BMI] ϭ 26 Ϯ 4.6 kg/m 2 , BMI z-score ϭ 2.1 Ϯ 0.4) were randomized to 13 Ϯ 1.6 weeks of an exercise program (20 or 40 min/day), or a control condition. Main Outcome Measures: Blinded, standardized psychological evaluations (Cognitive Assessment System and Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement III) assessed cognition and academic achievement. Functional MRI measured brain activity during executive function tasks. Results: Intent to treat analysis revealed dose-response benefits of exercise on executive function and mathematics achievement. Preliminary evidence of increased bilateral prefrontal cortex activity and reduced bilateral posterior parietal cortex activity attributable to exercise was also observed. Conclusion: Consistent with results obtained in older adults, a specific improvement on executive function and brain activation changes attributable to exercise were observed. The cognitive and achievement results add evidence of dose-response and extend experimental evidence into childhood. This study provides information on an educational outcome. Besides its importance for maintaining weight and reducing health risks during a childhood obesity epidemic, physical activity may prove to be a simple, important method of enhancing aspects of children's mental functioning that are central to cognitive development. This information may persuade educators to implement vigorous physical activity.
To examine test-retest reliability and internal consistency of a 5-item food insecurity questionn... more To examine test-retest reliability and internal consistency of a 5-item food insecurity questionnaire used in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Researchers administered NHANES's questionnaire in the classroom to 92 fourth-grade children (74 African American; 48 girls) in 2 sessions 27-30 days apart in spring, 2011. Each classroom administration lasted 5-10 minutes. Test-retest reliability was 0.66 (Kendall tau), which is modest. Internal consistency (Cronbach alpha) was .67 and .70 for respective administrations. Food insecurity scores were related to gender (adjusted P = .05) and academic achievement (adjusted P = .004) but not to socioeconomic status or body mass index percentile (binomial regression). On average, boys reported higher food insecurity than girls. Children with lower academic achievement scores reported higher food insecurity than children with higher academic achievement scores. NHANES's 5-item questionnaire may be group adminis...
Dietary recall accuracy is related to retention interval (RI) (i.e., time between to-be-reported ... more Dietary recall accuracy is related to retention interval (RI) (i.e., time between to-be-reported meals and the interview), and possibly to prompts. No study has evaluated their combined effect. The combined influence of RI and prompts on children's recall accuracy was investigated in this study. Two RIs [short (prior-24-h recall obtained in afternoon) and long (previous-day recall obtained in morning)] were crossed with 4 prompts [forward (distant-to-recent), meal-name (breakfast, lunch, etc.), open (no instructions), and reverse (recent-to-distant)], creating 8 conditions. Fourth-grade children (n = 480; 50% girls) were randomly selected from consented children at 10 schools in 4 districts in a southern state during 3 school years (2011-2012, 2012-2013, and 2013-2014). Each child was observed eating school-provided breakfast and lunch, and interviewed one time under 1 of the 8 conditions. Condition assignment was constrained so that each had 60 children (30 girls). Accuracy mea...
This study examined a recently developed short version of the Children's Social Desirability (CSD... more This study examined a recently developed short version of the Children's Social Desirability (CSD-S) scale with 157 fourth-grade children. Of interest was a) whether one-month test-retest reliability would vary as a function of test assessment mode (interview or classroom), gender, race, SES, and BMI percentile, and b) whether the degree of social desirability would vary as a function of these same variables. The CSD-S scale showed good test-retest reliability for both interview and classroom assessment modes (.85 and .83, respectively). Internal consistency also was good (first interview administration = .84; first classroom administration = .81). Reliability was good and did not vary significantly over assessment mode or any child subgroup variables, suggesting that the CSD-S scale is appropriate for general use. The interview mode elicited significantly more socially desirable answers than did the classroom mode. Social desirability did not differ across child subgroups. Some of these findings were examined, and replicated, on another sample. Thus, the CSD-S scale may be used with diverse groups of children to a) reliably assess a social desirability bias that may systematically bias other self-reports of interest to researchers and b) examine individual differences in degree of social desirability.
One approach to understanding model-based reasoning in science is to examine how it develops duri... more One approach to understanding model-based reasoning in science is to examine how it develops during infancy, childhood, and adolescence. The way in which thinking changes sometimes provides clues to its nature. This paper examines cognitive developmental aspects of modeling practices and discusses how a developmental perspective can enrich the study of model-based scientific reasoning in adults. The paper begins with issues concerning developmental change, followed by a model of model-based reasoning. The rest of the paper describes how several key concepts from recent developmental work couM contribute to current work on model-based reasoning. Specifically, developmental research shows that (a) social processes are involved in model-based reasoning and scientific discovery, (b) the development of a theory of mind contributes to the development of scientific reasoning, (c) changes in scientific reasoning are characterized by cognitive variability, and (d) microgenetic methods could clarify conceptual change during model-based reasoning.
The study tested the effect of aerobic exercise training on executive function in overweight chil... more The study tested the effect of aerobic exercise training on executive function in overweight children. Ninety-four sedentary, overweight but otherwise healthy children (mean age = 9.2 years, body mass index 85th percentile) were randomized to a low-dose (20 min/day exercise), high-dose (40 min/day exercise), or control condition. Exercise sessions met 5 days/week for 15 weeks. The Cognitive Assessment System (CAS), a standardized test of cognitive processes, was administered individually before and following intervention. Analysis of covariance on posttest scores revealed effects on executive function. Group differences emerged for the CAS Planning scale (p = .03). Planning scores for the high-dose group were significantly greater than those of the control group. Exercise may prove to be a simple, yet important, method of enhancing aspects of children's mental functioning that are central to cognitive and social development.
Objective: To examine test-retest reliability and internal consistency of the Children's Social D... more Objective: To examine test-retest reliability and internal consistency of the Children's Social Desirability Short (CSD-S) scale, consisting of 14 items from the Children's Social Desirability scale. Methods: The previously validated CSD-S scale was classroom administered to 97 fourth-grade children (80% African American; 76% low socioeconomic status) in 2 sessions a month apart. Each classroom administration lasted approximately 5 minutes. Results: The CSD-S scale showed acceptable levels of test-retest reliability (0.70) and internal consistency (.82 and .85 for the first and second administrations, respectively). Reliability was adequate within subgroups of gender, socioeconomic status, academic achievement, and body mass index percentile. Levels of social desirability did not differ across subgroups. Conclusions and Implications: Social desirability bias is a potential source of systematic response error in children's self-report assessments of nutrition and health-related behaviors. The CSD-S scale may be used with diverse groups of children to reliably and efficiently assess social desirability bias.
Nursery school children (N=64) received seven tests of conservation of number wilich varied in th... more Nursery school children (N=64) received seven tests of conservation of number wilich varied in the type and number of perceptual supports for conservation. Most of the tests with these supports facilitated performance in comparison to the standard conservation test. Conservation appeared earlier than usual. There were significant effects of supports which emphasized correspbndence and deemphasized length cues, unclear effects of the number of objects, and no effect of interest value of the stimuli. There was a set effect; i.e., beginning with the easiest test produced more conservation overall than did beginning with the most difficult test. It was proposed that the development of conservation involves several levels, varying from an early rudimentary understanding of invariance to the final, mature conception of number.
Two studies examined how nonconservers use the dimensions relevant to quantity in the conservatio... more Two studies examined how nonconservers use the dimensions relevant to quantity in the conservation of substance task. Most nonconservers are very selective in their use of the information provided by these dimensions. Most preschool &rid kindergarten nonconservers used length to define amount, while ignoring width. This was true regardless of how extreme the transformations were, in what order children saw the transformations, and whether the transformation was begun anew on each trial or continued from trial to trial. The youngest preschool children, however, were not as likely as the older preschoolers to restrict themselves to the length dimension. The results were interpreted as being counter to Piaget's four-step equilibration model of how compensation and conservation develop.
This article is a commentary on Harriet Waters' discussion, in this issue, of strategy inefficien... more This article is a commentary on Harriet Waters' discussion, in this issue, of strategy inefficiencies and strategy utilization, mediation, and production deficiencies. The author focuses on the importance and meaning of the degree of spontaneity in strategy production, and situates the concept of utilization deficiency within current work on strategy heterogeneity, contextual support, and situation-specific skills.
Recent discussions of strategy development have included the introduction of the concept of utili... more Recent discussions of strategy development have included the introduction of the concept of utilization deficiency. The present analysis examines the definition of utilization deficiency vis-à-vis the older contrasts between mediation and production deficiency and assesses the logical clarity of the current definition. Further, because utilization deficiency focuses on the transition from initial to proficient strategy use, the present analysis considers all of the possible types of strategy inefficiencies and evaluates whether the current definition of utilization deficiency precludes consideration of important strategy inefficiencies that have been documented in the existing literature and are likely to form the bulk of yet-to-be discovered inefficiencies. Although the emphasis on strategy inefficiencies is welcomed, the current analysis concludes that there are serious problems with the current definition of utilization deficiency, problems that both obscure important theoretical distinctions of the past and limit the investigation of strategy inefficiencies that are likely to play an important role in our understanding of the development of strategy use. Furthermore, the linear developmental model that frames utilization deficiencies from no benefit to sophisticated strategy use ignores the heterogeneity in strategy development that has been recently documented.
This review article examines theoretical and methodological issues in the construction of a devel... more This review article examines theoretical and methodological issues in the construction of a developmental perspective on executive function (EF) in childhood and adolescence. Unlike most reviews of EF, which focus on preschoolers, this review focuses on studies that include large age ranges. It outlines the development of the foundational components of EF-inhibition, working memory, and shifting. Cognitive and neurophysiological assessments show that although EF emerges during the first few years of life, it continues to strengthen significantly throughout childhood and adolescence. The components vary somewhat in their developmental trajectories. The article relates the findings to long-standing issues of development (e.g., developmental sequences, trajectories, and processes) and suggests research needed for constructing a developmental framework encompassing early childhood through adolescence.
Studies that examine the effects of exercise on children's intelligence, cognition, or academic a... more Studies that examine the effects of exercise on children's intelligence, cognition, or academic achievement were reviewed and results were discussed in light of (a) contemporary cognitive theory development directed toward exercise, (b) recent research demonstrating the salutary effects of exercise on adults' cognitive functioning, and (c) studies conducted with animals that have linked physical activity to changes in neurological development and behavior. Similar to adults, exercise facilitates children's executive function (i.e., processes required to select, organize, and properly initiate goal-directed actions). Exercise may prove to be a simple, yet important, method of enhancing those aspects of children's mental functioning central to cognitive development.
The purpose of this review is to present a new perspective on children's development of transfer ... more The purpose of this review is to present a new perspective on children's development of transfer of learning. The focus is on transfer of the effectiveness of a skill (i.e., improved performance), rather than just the transfer of the skill (e.g., a strategy) itself. Specifically, we examined the role of strategy utilization deficiencies, along with cognitive capacity, in the transfer of a memory strategy and, especially, strategy effectiveness (increased recall). Executive functions, metacognition, and mindset were considered as mechanisms that can both facilitate and hinder transfer of strategy effectiveness. Implications for theorizing about both transfer and utilization deficiencies were discussed.
This experiment tested the hypothesis that exercise would improve executive function. Design: Sed... more This experiment tested the hypothesis that exercise would improve executive function. Design: Sedentary, overweight 7-to 11-year-old children (N ϭ 171, 56% girls, 61% Black, M Ϯ SD age ϭ 9.3 Ϯ 1.0 years, body mass index [BMI] ϭ 26 Ϯ 4.6 kg/m 2 , BMI z-score ϭ 2.1 Ϯ 0.4) were randomized to 13 Ϯ 1.6 weeks of an exercise program (20 or 40 min/day), or a control condition. Main Outcome Measures: Blinded, standardized psychological evaluations (Cognitive Assessment System and Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement III) assessed cognition and academic achievement. Functional MRI measured brain activity during executive function tasks. Results: Intent to treat analysis revealed dose-response benefits of exercise on executive function and mathematics achievement. Preliminary evidence of increased bilateral prefrontal cortex activity and reduced bilateral posterior parietal cortex activity attributable to exercise was also observed. Conclusion: Consistent with results obtained in older adults, a specific improvement on executive function and brain activation changes attributable to exercise were observed. The cognitive and achievement results add evidence of dose-response and extend experimental evidence into childhood. This study provides information on an educational outcome. Besides its importance for maintaining weight and reducing health risks during a childhood obesity epidemic, physical activity may prove to be a simple, important method of enhancing aspects of children's mental functioning that are central to cognitive development. This information may persuade educators to implement vigorous physical activity.
Research and theorizing on executive function (EF) in childhood has been disproportionately focus... more Research and theorizing on executive function (EF) in childhood has been disproportionately focused on preschool age children. This review paper outlines the importance of examining EF throughout childhood, and even across the lifespan. First, examining EF in older children can address the question of whether EF is a unitary construct. The relations among the EF components, particularly as they are recruited for complex tasks, appear to change over the course of development. Second, much of the development of EF, especially working memory, shifting, and planning, occurs after age 5. Third, important applications of EF research concern the role of school-age children's EF in various aspects of school performance, as well as social functioning and emotional control.
Studies that examine the effects of exercise on children's intelligence, cognition, or academic a... more Studies that examine the effects of exercise on children's intelligence, cognition, or academic achievement were reviewed and results were discussed in light of (a) contemporary cognitive theory development directed toward exercise, (b) recent research demonstrating the salutary effects of exercise on adults' cognitive functioning, and (c) studies conducted with animals that have linked physical activity to changes in neurological development and behavior. Similar to adults, exercise facilitates children's executive function (i.e., processes required to select, organize, and properly initiate goal-directed actions). Exercise may prove to be a simple, yet important, method of enhancing those aspects of children's mental functioning central to cognitive development.
Objective: This experiment tested the hypothesis that exercise would improve executive function. ... more Objective: This experiment tested the hypothesis that exercise would improve executive function. Design: Sedentary, overweight 7-to 11-year-old children (N ϭ 171, 56% girls, 61% Black, M Ϯ SD age ϭ 9.3 Ϯ 1.0 years, body mass index [BMI] ϭ 26 Ϯ 4.6 kg/m 2 , BMI z-score ϭ 2.1 Ϯ 0.4) were randomized to 13 Ϯ 1.6 weeks of an exercise program (20 or 40 min/day), or a control condition. Main Outcome Measures: Blinded, standardized psychological evaluations (Cognitive Assessment System and Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement III) assessed cognition and academic achievement. Functional MRI measured brain activity during executive function tasks. Results: Intent to treat analysis revealed dose-response benefits of exercise on executive function and mathematics achievement. Preliminary evidence of increased bilateral prefrontal cortex activity and reduced bilateral posterior parietal cortex activity attributable to exercise was also observed. Conclusion: Consistent with results obtained in older adults, a specific improvement on executive function and brain activation changes attributable to exercise were observed. The cognitive and achievement results add evidence of dose-response and extend experimental evidence into childhood. This study provides information on an educational outcome. Besides its importance for maintaining weight and reducing health risks during a childhood obesity epidemic, physical activity may prove to be a simple, important method of enhancing aspects of children's mental functioning that are central to cognitive development. This information may persuade educators to implement vigorous physical activity.
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