Effects of Dance and Rhythmic Physical Activity Interventions on Executive Function and Motor Competence in Children: A Systematic Review and Three-Level Meta-Analysis.

Hao Luo, Lingyun Long, Haozhe Wang, Wenjia Chen

Abstract readReview

In one paragraph

Review in Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

0citing papers in PubMed

–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.

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

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

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

4 authors.

Hao LuoDepartment of Physical Education, Chongqing Electric Power College, Chongqing 400053, China.ORCID 0009-0000-4130-0622

Lingyun LongDepartment of Education, General Graduate School, Soonchunhyang University, Asan 31538, Republic of Korea.ORCID 0009-0006-1878-5215

Haozhe WangSchool of Physical Education, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China.

Wenjia ChenSchool of Physical Education, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Dance and rhythmic physical activity may support motor and cognitive development in children, but the magnitude and consistency of these effects remain uncertain, and individual trials frequently contribute multiple statistically dependent outcomes. Five electronic databases and ClinicalTrials.gov were searched from inception to May 2026. Executive function (EF) and motor competence (MC) were analyzed as separate primary domains using multilevel random-effects models with an estimated sampling variance-covariance structure and trial-clustered CR2 robust inference. Cluster-randomized designs, shared controls, and overlapping reports were explicitly accounted for. Twenty-two reports representing 21 unique trials and 2496 unique children were included. The primary EF model included 34 core-EF effect sizes from seven trials and yielded g = 0.50 (95% CI [-0.04, 1.04],

Indexed as

childrendanceexecutive functionmotor competencerhythmic physical activitythree-level meta-analysis

Identifiers

PMID42792498

DOI10.3390/bs16091699

PMCPMC13603710

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata

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.