Acute exercise significantly improves inhibitory control in children and adolescents with a small effect size (SMD = −0.25)¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · quant-synthesisr3·q3·i1small
Currency · newest study 2020 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q3 i1 Acute exercises produce a significant small benefit for inhibitory control in children and adolescents (SMD = −0.25). → Liu S 2020
Evidence¶
Liu S 2020¶
Liu S, Yu Q, Li Z, Cunha PM, Zhang Y, Kong Z, Lin W, Chen S and Cai Y (2020) Effects of Acute and Chronic Exercises on Executive Function in Children and Adolescents: A Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis. Front. Psychol. 11:554915. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.554915
q3 · i1 · quant-synthesis · r3
Meta-analysis of 23 studies of acute exercise effects on inhibitory control measured by Stroop, Go/no-go, or Flanker tasks, showing "a significant b enefit in favor of acute exercises" with small heterogeneity (I2 = 9.9%).
"The aggregated result showed a significant b enefit in favor of acute exercises on the inhibitory control of chil dren and adolescents (SMD = − 0.25; 95% CI − 0.40 to − 0.09, I2 = 9.9%, p = 0.002)"
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Aerobic exercise improves executive functioning, most notably inhibitory control, in typically developing children, though evidence is tentative and one week-long study found no main effect — related
- Acute exercise significantly improves cognitive flexibility in children and adolescents with a small effect size (SMD = −0.34) — related
- Acute exercise produces an overall small positive effect on cognition, with executive functions benefiting most and effects lasting up to two hours post-exercise — a broader claim this one bears on
- Open-skill exercises yield larger executive function benefits than closed-skill exercises for inhibitory control and working memory — related
- Acute exercise significantly improves working memory in children and adolescents with a moderate effect size (SMD = −0.72) — related
- Chronic exercise significantly improves working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility in children and adolescents — related
- Brief pre-class exercise selectively enhanced mathematics-specific inhibitory control while domain-general interference control (Flanker) showed no reliable change, per Zhang et al. (2026) — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
- Null Flanker effects under ecologically realistic exercise constrain claims of broad, generalized enhancement of executive control — reports the opposite
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
acute-exercise-improves-inhibitory-control-children |
title |
Acute exercise significantly improves inhibitory control in children and adolescents with a small effect size (SMD = −0.25) |
description |
Acute exercise significantly improves inhibitory control in children and adolescents with a small effect size (SMD = −0.25) |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2020 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-16 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — liu-s-2020 |
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