Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33808250›Full record

ArticleChildren (Basel, Switzerland)2021

Children Involved in Team Sports Show Superior Executive Function Compared to Their Peers Involved in Self-Paced Sports.

Silke De Waelle, Felien Laureys, Matthieu Lenoir, Simon J Bennett, Frederik J A Deconinck

Registry-linked trialAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Children (Basel, Switzerland), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05488600 (Comparison of the Executive Functions of Elite Team-Sport and Individual-Sport Athletes), which is not on this map. Cited by 26 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
26citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
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.

NCT05488600 completednot on this mapstarted 2022, after this paper: background citation

Comparison of the Executive Functions of Elite Team-Sport and Individual-Sport Athletes

Typeobservational_patient_registrySponsorIstanbul Medipol University HospitalRan2022 to 2022Enrolled90ConditionsCognitive ChangeArmsExecutive Function Assessment
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

26 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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  14. Sports participation & childhood neurocognitive development.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2025
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  20. Acute Effects of Fitlight Training on Cognitive-Motor Processes in Young Basketball Players.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023
    Article
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

5 authors.

Silke De WaelleDepartment of Movement and Sports Sciences, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0002-3574-5155
Felien LaureysDepartment of Movement and Sports Sciences, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0002-6329-9674
Matthieu LenoirDepartment of Movement and Sports Sciences, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0003-3906-1137
Simon J BennettResearch Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK.
Frederik J A DeconinckDepartment of Movement and Sports Sciences, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0002-9064-9510

Funding

Universiteit Gent BOF.STA.2017.0050.01
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Children's motor and cognitive functions develop rapidly during childhood. Physical activity and executive function are intricately linked during this important developmental period, with physical activity interventions consistently proving to benefit children's executive function. However, it is less clear which type of physical activity shows the strongest associations with executive function in children. Therefore, this study compared executive function performance of children aged 8 to 12 that either participated in team sports or self-paced sports or were not involved in any kind of organized sports (non-athletes). Results demonstrate that children participating in team sports show superior executive function compared to children participating in self-paced sports and non-athletes. Importantly, children participating in self-paced sports do not outperform non-athletes when it comes to executive function. This study is the first to show that even at a very young age, team sports athletes outperform athletes from self-paced sports as well as non-athletes on a multifaceted and comprehensive test battery for executive function. Furthermore, our findings support the hypothesis that cognitively engaging physical activity, such as participation in team sports, might show stronger associations with executive functioning compared to other types of sports and physical activity.

Indexed as

athleteschildrendevelopmentexecutive function

Identifiers

PMID33808250
PMCPMC8065925

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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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.