Trial reportAdvanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)2025
Effects of Physical Exercise Breaks on Executive Function in a Simulated Classroom Setting: Uncovering a Window into the Brain.
Trial report in Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 5 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
10 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Acute cognitive effects of interruptions to prolonged sitting with brief standing or physical activity breaks: a systematic review and three-level meta-analysis.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2026Pooled it
- Effect of breaking up prolonged sitting with physical activity on executive function: a three-level meta-analysis.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2026Pooled it
- Effect of classroom physical activity breaks on learning behaviors and academic achievements in university students: a systematic review.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of exercise intervention on executive function in college students: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- Evaluating the methods used to examine sitting breaks and their influence on mental load, physical strain, and cognitive performance - a scoping review.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of Physical Exercise Breaks on Executive Function in a Simulated Classroom Setting: Uncovering a Window into the Brain.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Trial
- Acute effects of high-intensity interval training on inhibitory control and prefrontal network topology in problematic social media users: An fNIRS study.Journal of exercise science and fitness · 2026Article
- Psychometric evaluation of the exercise-related cognitive errors questionnaire among Chinese emerging adults.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Effects of variable-intensity interval training and moderate-intensity continuous aerobic exercise on executive function and underlying neural mechanisms in male college students.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Pilot study examining the relationship between retinal vasculature and cognition in older adults recently discharged from a 12-week cardiac rehabilitation program.Therapeutic advances in ophthalmologyArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
21 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Acknowledging the detrimental effects of prolonged sitting, this study examined the effects of an acute exercise break during prolonged sitting on executive function, cortical hemodynamics, and microvascular status. In this randomized crossover study, 71 college students completed three conditions: (i) uninterrupted sitting (SIT); (ii) SIT with a 15 min moderate-intensity cycling break (MIC); and (iii) SIT with a 15 min vigorous-intensity cycling break (VIC). Behavioral outcomes, retinal vessel diameters (central retinal artery equivalents [CRAE], retinal vein equivalents [CRVE], arteriovenous ratio [AVR]), cortical activation, and effective connectivity were evaluated. Linear mixed models identified significant positive effects of exercise conditions on behavioral reaction time (RT), error rate, and inverse efficiency score (β = -2.62, -0.19, -3.04: ps < 0.05). MIC and VIC conditions produced pre-to-post-intervention increases in CRAE and CRVE (β = 4.46, 6.34), frontal activation, and resting-state and task-state causal density (β = 0.37, 0.06) (ps < 0.05) compared to SIT; VIC was more beneficial for executive function and neurobiological parameters. The effect of AVR on average RT was mediated through task-based causal density (indirect effect: -0.82). Acutely interrupting prolonged sitting improves executive function, microvascular status, and cortical activation and connectivity, with causal density mediating the microvascular-executive function link.
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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.