Correlation of primary schoolchildren physical activity and progress in executive functions

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A.N. Shatskaya2
Academician of the RAE, Dr.Sc.Psych. A.N. Veraksa1, 2
A.Y. Fominykh2
1Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow
2Psychological Institute of the Russian Academy of Education, Moscow

Objective of the study was to analyze correlations between executive functions and physical activity in primary schoolchildren.
Methods and structure of the study. We sampled for the study the 8 year-old 2-grade students (n=103, 47 boys and 56 girls) at Moscow schools and split them up into unsporting Group 1 (n=49) and sporting Group 2 (n=54) of individuals trained at least twice a week for 45+min in 1+ sport groups on an off-class basis for at least one year. The sample was tested on an individual basis, with the test data processed by SPSS 21.0 software and R-language (version 4.0.3). We used NEPSY-II Neuropsychological Test System (designed to test mental functions in the 3-16-year-olds) to rate the self-regulation elements in the sample.
Results and conclusion. Our tests and and analyses rated the habitually sporting children meaningfully higher on the self-regulation and short-term auditory memory scales than their unsporting peers, with the highest progresses and intergroup differences in the cognitive flexibility tests. This finding gives us the reasons to recommend reasonably high physical activity among the most efficient cognitive progress facilitation methods.

Keywords: executive functions, self-regulation, working memory, physical activity, sport, primary schoolchildren.

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