Trial reportBMC public health2020
Effect of football activity and physical fitness on information processing, inhibitory control and working memory in adolescents.
Trial report in BMC public health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparative effects of ball sports on executive function subdomains in children and adolescents: a network meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of football training on cognitive performance in children and adolescents: a meta-analytic review.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Pooled it
- Touch Restriction Versus Free-Play Small-Sided Games in Soccer: Acute Effects on Serum BDNF, Executive Function, and Technical Actions.European journal of sport science · 2026Trial
- Unlocking the Potential: Increasing Muscle Strength in Lower Limbs of Youth Soccer Players over Five Weeks through Mat Pilates Training-A Pilot Study.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Trial
- An After-School Football Session Transiently Improves Cognitive Function in Children.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Trial
- Effect of Differing Durations of High-Intensity Intermittent Activity on Cognitive Function in Adolescents.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Trial
- Effects of Strength Training on Cognitive Function, Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor and Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1 in Highly-Trained Young Female Soccer Players.Sports medicine - open · 2026Article
- Twelve Weeks of In-Season Strength Training at Moderate Intensities Improve Strength and Body Composition Without Increasing Muscle Damage or Inflammation in Elite Young Female Soccer Players.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Dose-Response Effects of a Multimodal Physical Activity Intervention on Selective Attention in Schoolchildren from Bogotá.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- The relationship between physical activity, working memory, and mathematics achievement on the basis of socioeconomic status: the mediating role of physical fitness level.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2026Article
- Exercise as a multimodal intervention for adolescent depression: integrating neuroplasticity, BDNF signaling, stress biomarkers, exercise intensity, digital mental health interventions, and precision psychiatry.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Review
- Family-Based Tag Rugby: Acute Effects on Risk Factors for Cardiometabolic Disease and Cognition and Factors Affecting Family Enjoyment and Feasibility.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Acute Neurochemical, Psychophysiological, and Cognitive Responses to Small-Sided Games vs. Running-Based HIIT in Young, Male Soccer Players.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Effects of aerobic exercise on memory functions and serum levels of BDNF and TrkB in young adult and older adult male football players.Journal of exercise science and fitness · 2025Article
- The influence of physical exercise on adolescents' negative emotions: the chain mediating role of academic stress and sleep quality.BMC pediatrics · 2025Article
- Chronological age and biological maturity are separately positively associated with inhibitory control and working memory in boys and girls.Frontiers in cognition · 2025Article
- Acute effect of complexity in basketball on cognitive capacity.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- The Feeling of Pleasure for Overweight Children during Different Types of Physical Activity.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Transfer Effect of Cognitive Advantages in Visual Working Memory Capacity: Evidence from Elite Football Players.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Effects of a games-based physical education lesson on cognitive function in adolescents.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWhilst an acute bout of exercise has been shown to enhance subsequent cognition, including in adolescents, the effects of team games (of which Football is the most popular) has received little attention. Therefore, this study examined: the effect of an acute bout of outdoor Football activity on information processing, inhibitory control, working memory and circulating brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in adolescents; the effect of physical fitness on cognition and; the moderating effect of physical fitness on the acute exercise responses.
methodsFollowing familiarisation, 36 adolescents (16 girls) took part in two trials (60-min Football and 60-min seated rest) separated by 7-d in a counterbalanced, crossover design. Information processing and inhibitory control (Stroop Test), and working memory (Sternberg Paradigm) were assessed 30-min before exercise/rest and immediately, 45- and 90-min post-exercise/rest. Capillary blood samples were obtained before exercise/rest and up to 120-min post-exercise/rest. The median split of distance covered on the MSFT was used to divide the group into high- and low-fit groups.
resultsPerformance on the cognitive function tasks was similar between Football and seated rest (trial*time interactions; all p > .05). However, the high-fit group had overall quicker response times on both levels of the Stroop Task and all three levels of the Sternberg Paradigm (main effect of fitness; all p < .001). Furthermore, the exercise-cognition relationship was moderated by physical fitness, with improvements in working memory response times seen post-exercise, only in the high-fit group (trial*time*fitness interaction, p < .05). Circulating BDNF was unaffected by the Football activity and physical fitness (p > .05).
conclusionThe present study shows that higher levels of physical fitness are beneficial for cognitive function and provides novel evidence that an ecologically valid, and popular, form of exercise is beneficial for working memory following exercise, in high-fit participants only.
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Registered trials
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.