title: Fit and vigilant: the relationship between poorer aerobic fitness and failures in sustained attention during preadolescence.
abstract: With the growing trend toward engagement in sedentary behaviors during childhood, a greater understanding of the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and cognition during development is of increasing importance.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this investigation was to assess the extent to which failures in sustained attention may underlie deficits in cognition associated with poorer aerobic fitness.
  
  
  METHODS
  A sample of 62 preadolescent children between the ages of 9 and 10 years were separated into higher- and lower-fit groups according to their cardiorespiratory fitness.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Findings indicated that lower-fit children exhibited poorer overall response accuracy during a task requiring aspects of cognitive control relative to their higher-fit counterparts, with a disproportionately greater number of errors of omission, and longer, more frequent sequential errors of omission.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that poorer vigilance may contribute to deficits in cognitive control associated with poorer aerobic fitness.
authors: Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA. pontifex@msu.edu
authors: Matthew B
authors: MB
authors: Pontifex
authors: Mark R
authors: MR
authors: Scudder
authors: Eric S
authors: ES
authors: Drollette
authors: Charles H
authors: CH
authors: Hillman
mesh_terms: D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002153:Calorimetry, Indirect; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008297:Male; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000502:physiology; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires