title: Aerobic capacity and cognitive control in elementary school-age children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The current study examined the relationship between children's performance on the Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run subtest of the FitnessGram® and aspects of cognitive control that are believed to support academic success.
  
  
  METHODS
  Hierarchical linear regression analyses were conducted on a sample of second- and third-grade children (n = 397) who completed modified versions of a flanker task and spatial n-back task to assess inhibitory control and working memory, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Greater aerobic fitness was significantly related to shorter reaction time and superior accuracy during the flanker task, suggesting better inhibitory control and the facilitation of attention in higher-fit children. A similar result was observed for the n-back task such that higher-fit children exhibited more accurate target detection and discrimination performance when working memory demands were increased.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings support the positive association between aerobic fitness and multiple aspects of cognitive control in a large sample of children, using a widely implemented and reliable field estimate of aerobic capacity. Importantly, the current results suggest that this relationship is consistent across methods used to assess fitness, which may have important implications for extending this research to more representative samples of children in a variety of experimental contexts.
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL; 2Department of Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS; and 3Department of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, SD.
authors.forename: Mark R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Scudder
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lambourne
authors.forename: Eric S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Drollette
authors.forename: Stephen D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Herrmann
authors.forename: Richard A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Washburn
authors.forename: Joseph E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Donnelly
authors.forename: Charles H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Hillman
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D002320:Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010807:Physical Endurance / Q000502:physiology; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D011930:Reaction Time
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