Physical activity has been shown to be beneficial to developing cognitive function in children, such as perception, memory, and executive function.
Physical activity (PA) can be classified into two categories: acute PA, a single short-term bout (between 10 – 40 min); and chronic PA, multiple sessions per week or month for an extended period (e.g., 6 weeks). Song and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the effect of acute and chronic PA interventions on the cognitive function of preschool children.
Eligible studies targeted preschool children aged 2-6 years, contained a sport or PA intervention component (e.g., yoga, aerobic, physical education session), and reported at least one cognitive outcome (e.g., attention, perception, logic and reasoning). The study identified 16 articles (4 acute PA and 12 chronic PA) that met the inclusion criteria.
Results showed that acute PA (n=4 studies) had no effect on executive functioning (g=0.04), but that chronic PA had a moderate effect on cognitive functioning (g=0.49). The effect on perception was strongest (g = 1.19), followed by inhibitory control (g = 0.58).
