Trial reportTrends in neuroscience and education2020
The role of BMI on cognition following acute physical activity in preadolescent children.
Trial report in Trends in neuroscience and education, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Physical activity based interventions for reducing body mass index in children aged 6-12 years: a systematic review.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of aerobic exercise on executive function among overweight and obese children: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Pooled it
- Acute physical activity supports inhibitory control in primary school children: a randomised cross-over trial.Scientific reports · 2026Trial
- Bullying and Cyberbullying Are Associated with Low Levels of Motivational Beliefs Toward Learning in Youth.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2025Article
- The Impact of Acute Aerobic Exercise on General and Food-Related Inhibitory Function Among Young Adults with Obesity: An Event-Related Potential (ERP) Study.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Bullying and cyberbullying is associated with low levels of cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies in young people.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Physical activity and exercise alter cognitive abilities, and brain structure and activity in obese children.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThere is an increasing prevalence of physical inactivity during childhood, concurrent with a rise in obesity rates, which is associated with a variety of health problems. However, the extent to which increased body mass index (BMI) influences acute physical activity (PA) benefits on cognition in childhood remains unknown. The aim of this study was to examine whether BMI influences the effects of acute PA on inhibitory control task performance.
methodsIn a sample of 116 children pooled from four prior studies (ages 8-11; 51 females), demographic measures of age, sex, IQ, socioeconomic status, and aerobic fitness were considered along with BMI. Children participated in a counterbalanced, randomized crossover study, whereby they completed two different interventions; 20 minutes of treadmill walking (60-70% heart rate max) and restful reading (non-exercise control). Following each intervention, children performed a modified flanker task that manipulates inhibitory control demands. Correlations were conducted to determine the influence of demographic variables, fitness, and BMI on inhibitory control following each intervention. Subsequent hierarchical regression analyses were performed with significant demographic factors in the first step, aerobic fitness in the second step when significant, and BMI in the final step.
resultsAnalyses indicated that children exhibited improved task performance (p's ≤ 0.001) and decreased interference (p = 0.04) following the walking intervention compared to the restful reading control condition, indicating greater benefits following acute PA across task condition, with selectively greater benefits for the task condition requiring greater inhibitory control. Regression analyses revealed that greater BMI was related to decreased performance following acute PA (p = 0.001); an association not observed following restful reading (p's ≥ 0.11). These results suggest that BMI negatively influences the effect of acute exercise on performance.
conclusionConfirming previous studies, these findings indicate beneficial effects of acute PA on a flanker task that modulates inhibitory control requirements, but the effects are significantly greater for task conditions requiring greater amounts of inhibitory control. Further, these beneficial effects of PA appear to be blunted in children with higher BMI. These findings suggest that the acute benefits of PA on cognition may not be fully realized in children with higher BMI.
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