Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32072938›Full record

ArticleDevelopmental cognitive neuroscience2020

Physical activity, aerobic fitness, and brain white matter: Their role for executive functions in adolescence.

Ilona Ruotsalainen, Tetiana Gorbach, Jaana Perkola, Ville Renvall, Heidi J Syväoja, Tuija H Tammelin, Juha Karvanen, Tiina Parviainen

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Developmental cognitive neuroscience, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
34citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
8.7field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

34 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 72 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  8. Fitness, Weight Status and Executive Functions in Adolescents: A Cluster Analysis.Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports · 2025
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  20. The alterations of spontaneous neural activities and white matter microstructures in anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor encephalitis: a resting-state fMRI and DTI study.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2023
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.

Ilona RuotsalainenDepartment of Psychology, Centre for Interdisciplinary Brain Research, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland. Electronic address: ilona.p.ruotsalainen@jyu.fi.
Tetiana GorbachUmeå School of Business, Economics and Statistics, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden; Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
Jaana PerkolaClinical Neurophysiology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Finland.
Ville RenvallDepartment of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland; AMI Centre, Aalto NeuroImaging, School of Science, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland.
Heidi J SyväojaLIKES Research Centre for Physical Activity and Health, Jyväskylä, Finland.
Tuija H TammelinLIKES Research Centre for Physical Activity and Health, Jyväskylä, Finland.
Juha KarvanenDepartment of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
Tiina ParviainenDepartment of Psychology, Centre for Interdisciplinary Brain Research, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
University of Jyväskylä · FILIKES – Foundation for Sport and Health Sciences · FIAalto University · FIUmeå University · SEUniversity of Helsinki · FI

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Physical activity and exercise beneficially link to brain properties and cognitive functions in older adults, but the findings concerning adolescents remain tentative. During adolescence, the brain undergoes significant changes, which are especially pronounced in white matter. Studies provide contradictory evidence regarding the influence of physical activity or aerobic-exercise on executive functions in youth. Little is also known about the link between both fitness and physical activity with the brain's white matter during puberty. We investigated the connection between aerobic fitness and physical activity with the white matter in 59 adolescents. We further determined whether white matter interacts with the connection of fitness or physical activity with core executive functions. Our results show that only the level of aerobic fitness, but not of physical activity relates to white matter. Furthermore, the white matter of the corpus callosum and the right superior corona radiata moderates the links of aerobic fitness and physical activity with working memory. Our results suggest that aerobic fitness and physical activity have an unequal contribution to the white matter properties in adolescents. We propose that the differences in white matter properties could underlie the variations in the relationship between either physical activity or aerobic fitness with working memory.

Indexed as

AdolescentAgedChildExecutive FunctionExerciseFemaleHumansMaleWhite MatterDiffusion tensor imagingExecutive functionsFitnessFractional anisotropyPhysical activityWhite matter

Identifiers

PMID32072938
PMCPMC7013351
OpenAlexW3004774738

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.