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The impacts of coordinative exercise on executive function in kindergarten children: an ERP study

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An Erratum to this article was published on 06 June 2013

Abstract

This study examined the behavioral and neuroelectrical impacts of a coordinative exercise intervention with different exercise intensities on executive function in kindergarten children. Participants underwent the Eriksen flanker test before and after an exercise program that involved 35-min sessions twice per week for 8 weeks, with either low or moderate intensity. Our findings revealed that exercise intervention, regardless of intensity, resulted in shorter reaction times and higher response accuracy in both congruent and incongruent trials, with incongruent trials receiving a larger benefit from exercise compared with congruent trials. Additionally, neuroelectrical activation demonstrated greater P3 amplitude and shorter P3 latency following exercise in both trials. These results suggest that coordinative exercise may specifically benefit prefrontal-dependent tasks in the immature brain state of kindergarten children by increasing the allocation of attentional resources and enhancing the efficiency of neurocognitive processing.

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Acknowledgments

This work is particularly supported by “Aim for the Top University Plan” of the National Taiwan Normal University and the Ministry of Education, Taiwan, R.O.C.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Institute of Athletics and Coaching Science, National Taiwan Sport University, Taoyuan, Taiwan

    Yu-Kai Chang

  2. Department of Physical Education, National Taiwan Normal University, No. 162, Sec. 1, Heping E. Rd., Da’an Dist., Taipei, 10610, Taiwan

    Yu-Jung Tsai, Tai-Ting Chen & Tsung-Min Hung

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  1. Yu-Kai Chang
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  2. Yu-Jung Tsai
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Correspondence to Tsung-Min Hung.

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Chang, YK., Tsai, YJ., Chen, TT. et al. The impacts of coordinative exercise on executive function in kindergarten children: an ERP study. Exp Brain Res 225, 187–196 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-012-3360-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-012-3360-9

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