Sustained aerobic exercise improves children's EFs, with dose-response benefits for the most EF-demanding task and math in the high-dose group only¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · review r2–r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2011 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Aerobic running with increasing demands improved 8–12 year-olds' cognitive flexibility and creativity more than standard physical education, without affecting non-EF skills. → Diamond Adele 2011 q2 i? Only the 40-minutes/day high-dose aerobics group improved on EFs and math compared with no-treatment controls; neither dose improved selective attention or non-EF skills. → Diamond Adele 2011 (2)

Evidence¶

Diamond Adele 2011¶

Diamond Adele, Lee Kathleen. (2011). Interventions shown to Aid Executive Function Development in Children 4–12 Years Old. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1204529

q2 · i? · review · r3

The review reports a sustained aerobic running study in 8–12 year-olds showing greater cognitive flexibility and creativity gains than standard PE, with no effect on non-EF skills.

"Aerobic running (with exercises becoming more demanding over time) improved 8–12 year-olds’ cognitive flexibility and creativity, and significantly more so than did standard physical education, yet didn’t affect non-EF skills (19)."

Diamond Adele 2011 (2)¶

Diamond Adele, Lee Kathleen. (2011). Interventions shown to Aid Executive Function Development in Children 4–12 Years Old. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1204529

q2 · i? · review · r2

The review reports Davis et al.'s randomized assignment of sedentary overweight 7–11 year-olds to no treatment, 20- or 40-minutes/day aerobic games; only the high-dose group improved on EFs and math.

"Only the high-dose aerobics group improved on EFs (only on the most EF-demanding measure) and math, compared with no-treatment controls. Dose-response benefits of aerobic exercise were found for the most difficult EF task and for math."

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 — a broader claim this one bears on
• A 13-week randomized exercise trial in overweight children showed a dose-response benefit on executive planning and math achievement, with no effects on other CAS scales or reading — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• Largest EF-training benefits emerge on the most demanding EF tasks and task conditions, so outcome measures must test the limits of children's EF abilities — 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
• Mindfulness training improves EFs most in 7–9 year-olds with initially poorer EFs, and yoga improves EFs where physical training alone does not — related
• Curriculum add-ons PATHS and CSRP improve children's EFs and related outcomes in regular classrooms, with CSRP's academic gains mediated largely via EF improvement — related
• EF training demands must keep increasing as children improve, or few gains will be seen — related
• Nature-based instruction improves academic achievement over traditional instruction, with larger gains at larger doses
• The bilingual effect tends to emerge in more complex experimental tasks with higher control demands — related