Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jun;57(6):e13579.
doi: 10.1111/psyp.13579. Epub 2020 Apr 6.

Fitness, physical activity, sedentary time, inhibitory control, and neuroelectric activity in children with overweight or obesity: The ActiveBrains project

Jose Mora-Gonzalez  1   2 , Irene Esteban-Cornejo  2 , Patricio Solis-Urra  2   3 , Jairo H Migueles  2 , Cristina Cadenas-Sanchez  2 , Pablo Molina-Garcia  2 , María Rodriguez-Ayllon  2 , Charles H Hillman  4   5 , Andrés Catena  6 , Matthew B Pontifex  7 , Francisco B Ortega  2
Affiliations

Fitness, physical activity, sedentary time, inhibitory control, and neuroelectric activity in children with overweight or obesity: The ActiveBrains project

Jose Mora-Gonzalez et al. Psychophysiology. 2020 Jun.

Abstract

Whereas numerous studies have investigated the relationship of cardiorespiratory fitness with inhibition and neuroelectric activity, the role of other physical fitness components and physical activity (PA) intensities in this relationship remain unclear, especially in children with obesity. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the association of physical fitness, PA, and sedentary time with inhibitory control and neuroelectric activity in children. Eighty-four children (8-11 years) with overweight or obesity performed the ALPHA battery to assess their physical fitness components (i.e., muscular strength, speed-agility, and cardiorespiratory fitness). PA and sedentary time were assessed from hip and nondominant wrist-worn accelerometers. Inhibitory control was evaluated using a flanker task, and expressed as reaction time (RT) and response accuracy. P3 amplitude and latency were recorded using electroencephalography. Higher speed-agility and cardiorespiratory fitness were associated with shorter RT and larger P3 amplitude on incongruent trials. Higher speed-agility was associated with shorter RT on congruent trials. Hip-assessed moderate and moderate-to-vigorous PA were associated with longer P3 latency across trials, and vigorous PA with larger P3 amplitude on incongruent trials. Our results provide initial evidence suggesting that not only cardiorespiratory fitness, but also speed-agility, are associated with inhibitory control and P3 amplitude, whereas no significant associations were observed for muscular strength. The associations between PA (moderate, vigorous and moderate to-vigorous) and neuroelectric activity were accelerometer location-dependent. Promoting PA programs that enhance the cardiorespiratory fitness and speed-agility will contribute to better understanding whether such health improvements benefit inhibitory control in youth with overweight or obesity.

Keywords: ERPs; aerobic fitness; cognition; electroencephalography; executive control; youth.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

REFERENCES

    1. Aadland, K. N., Moe, V. F., Aadland, E., Anderssen, S. A., Resaland, G. K., & Ommundsen, Y. (2017). Relationships between physical activity, sedentary time, aerobic fitness, motor skills and executive function and academic performance in children. Mental Health and Physical Activity, 12, 10-18. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.MHPA.2017.01.001
    1. Arvidsson, D., Fridolfsson, J., Börjesson, M., Andersen, L. B., Ekblom, Ö., Dencker, M., & Brønd, J. C. (2019). Re-examination of accelerometer data processing and calibration for the assessment of physical activity intensity. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 29(10), 1442-1452. https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.13470
    1. Bauer, C. C. C., Moreno, B., González-Santos, L., Concha, L., Barquera, S., & Barrios, F. A. (2015). Child overweight and obesity are associated with reduced executive cognitive performance and brain alterations: A magnetic resonance imaging study in Mexican children. Pediatric Obesity, 10(3), 196-204. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijpo.241
    1. Benjamini, Y., & Hochberg, Y. (1995). Controlling the false discovery rate: A practical and powerful approach to multiple testing. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series B (Methodological), 57(1), 289-300.
    1. Braver, T. S., Gray, J. R., & Burgess, G. C. (2007). Explaining the many varieties of working memory variation: Dual mechanisms of cognitive control. In A. Conway, C. Jarrold, M. Kane, A. Miyake, & J. Towse (Eds.), Variation in working memory (pp. 76-106). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Publication types