title: A comparative study of performance in simple and choice reaction time tasks between obese and healthy-weight children.
abstract: This study investigated weight status related differences in executive functions and movement execution to determine whether or not childhood obesity is associated with impaired perceptual-motor function. Nineteen obese (OB) children (10 ♂ and 9 ♀, aged 6-12 years) and nineteen gender and age matched healthy-weight (HW) peers performed two computer-based reaction time tasks. For both the simple and four choice reaction time (SRT/CRT) task condition, absolute mean reaction time (RT) and movement time (MT) were determined and expressed as a percentage of total response time (RsT). During the SRT task, OB children were intrinsically slower than their HW peers as reflected by a significantly higher absolute RT, MT and RsT. In the CRT task, however, between-group differences were only present for RT and RsT, whereas absolute MT was comparable among OB and HW participants. As a result, the relative temporal structure of RsT significantly differed between BMI groups, with a greater RT percentage among the OB children. During the CRT condition, OB children probably await final decision-making with regard to the execution of their response movement, which then no longer needs to be adjusted. Our results therefore indicate the use of a more conservative strategy within the OB group, suggesting that childhood obesity is associated with impaired perceptual-motor function. Besides the widely accepted mechanical explanation, a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying OB children's motor incompetence is needed to set up appropriate interventions to tackle this deficit and indirectly address associated health-related problems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Movement and Sports Sciences, Ghent University, Watersportlaan 2, 9000 Ghent, Belgium. ilse.gentier@ugent.be
authors.forename: Ilse
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Gentier
authors.forename: Mireille
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Augustijn
authors.forename: Benedicte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Deforche
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tanghe
authors.forename: Ilse
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: De Bourdeaudhuij
authors.forename: Matthieu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lenoir
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: D'Hondt
mesh_terms: D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D009765:Obesity / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Children; Obesity; Perceptual-motor function; Reaction time; Response time