Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T05:25:59.520Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Review of the Relation of Aerobic Fitness and Physical Activity to Brain Structure and Function in Children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 April 2011

Laura Chaddock ,
Matthew B. Pontifex ,
Charles H. Hillman  and
Arthur F. Kramer
Laura Chaddock
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois
Matthew B. Pontifex
Affiliation:
Department of Kinesiology & Community Health, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois
Charles H. Hillman
Affiliation:
Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois Department of Kinesiology & Community Health, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois
Arthur F. Kramer*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to: Arthur F. Kramer, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 405 North Mathews Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A growing number of schools have increasingly de-emphasized the importance of providing physical activity opportunities during the school day, despite emerging research that illustrates the deleterious relationship between low levels of aerobic fitness and neurocognition in children. Accordingly, a brief review of studies that link fitness-related differences in brain structure and brain function to cognitive abilities is provided herein. Overall, the extant literature suggests that childhood aerobic fitness is associated with higher levels of cognition and differences in regional brain structure and function. Indeed, it has recently been found that aerobic fitness level even predicts cognition over time. Given the paucity of work in this area, several avenues for future investigations are also highlighted. (JINS, 2011, 17, 975–985)

Keywords

Academic achievementCognitionCognitive controlERPsExerciseMRIPlasticity
Type
Symposium
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 17 , Issue 6 , November 2011 , pp. 975 - 985
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Aguiar, A.S., Speck, A.E., Prediger, R.D., Kapczinski, F., Pinho, R.A. (2008). Downhill training upregulates mice hippocampal and striatal brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels. Journal of Neural Transmission, 115, 1251–1255.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Anderson, S.L. (2003). Trajectories of brain development: Point of vulnerability or window of opportunity? Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 27, 3–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, R.E., Crespo, C.J., Barlett, S.J., Cheskin, L.J., Pratt, M. (1998). Relationship of physical activity and television watching with body weight and level of fatness among children. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 279, 938–942.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aron, A.R., Poldrack, R.A., Wise, S.P. (2009). Cognition: Basal ganglia role. Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, 2, 1069–1077.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Azizian, A., Polich, J. (2007). Evidence for attentional gradient in the serial position memory curve from event-related potentials. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19, 2071–2081.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baddeley, A.D. (2007). Working Memory, Thought and Action. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barde, Y.A. (1994). Neurotrophins: A family of proteins supporting the survival of neurons. Progress in Clinical Biological Research, 390, 45–56.Google ScholarPubMed
Barkley, R.A. (1997). Behavioral inhibition, sustained attention, and executive functions. Psychological Bulletin, 121, 65–94.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berchtold, N.C., Chinn, G., Chou, M., Kesslak, J.P., Cotman, C.W. (2005). Exercise primes a molecular memory for brain-derived neurotrophic factor protein induction in the rat hippocampus. Neuroscience, 133, 853–861.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Booth, F.W., Lees, S.J. (2006). Physically active subjects should be the control group. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 38, 405–406.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Botvinick, M.M., Braver, T.S., Barch, D.M., Carter, C.S., Cohen, J.D. (2001). Conflict monitoring and cognitive control. Psychological Review, 108, 624–652.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brocki, K.C., Brohlin, G. (2004). Executive functions in children aged 6-13: A dimensional and developmental study. Developmental Neuropsychology, 26, 571–593.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buckworth, J., Dishman, R.K. (2002). Exercise Psychology. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.Google Scholar
Bull, R., Scerif, G. (2001). Executive functioning as a predictor of children's mathematics ability: Inhibition, switching, and working memory. Developmental Neuropsychology, 19, 273–293.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bunge, S.A., Crone, E.A. (2009). Neural correlates of the development of cognitive control. In J.M. Rumsey & M. Ernst (Eds.), Neuroimaging in Developmental Clinical Neuroscience. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bunge, S.A., Dudukovic, N.M., Thomason, M.E., Vaidya, C.J., Gabrieli, J.D. (2002). Immature frontal lobe contributions to cognitive control in children: Evidence from fMRI. Neuron, 33, 301–311.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bunge, S.A., Mackey, A.P., Whitaker, K.J. (2009). Brain changes underlying the development of cognitive control and reasoning. In M.S. Gazzaniga (Ed.), The Cognitive Neurosciences (4th ed.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Carter, C.S., Braver, T.S., Barch, D.M., Botvinick, M.M., Noll, D., Cohen, J.D. (1998). Anterior cingulate cortex, error detection, and the online monitoring of performance. Science, 280, 747–749.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Casey, B.J., Getz, S., Galvan, A. (2008). The adolescent brain. Developmental Review, 28, 62–77.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Casey, B.J., Tottenham, N., Liston, C., Durston, S. (2005). Imaging the developing brain: What have we learned about cognitive development? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9, 104–110.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Castelli, D.M., Hillman, C.H., Buck, S.M., Erwin, H.E. (2007). Physical fitness and academic achievement in third- and fifth-grade students. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 29, 239–252.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Caviness, V.S., Kennedy, D.N., Richelme, C., Rademacher, J., Filipek, P.A. (1996). The human brain age 7–11 years: A volumetric analysis based on magnetic resonance images. Cerebral Cortex, 6, 726–736.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2010). The Association Between School Based Physical Activity, Including Physical Education, and Academic Performance. Atlanta, GA: Department of Health and Human Services.Google Scholar
Cepeda, N.J., Kramer, A.F., Gonzalez de Sather, J.C. (2001). Changes in executive control across the lifespan: Examination of task switching performance. Developmental Psychology, 37, 715–730.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chaddock, L., Erickson, K.I., Prakash, R.S., Kim, J.S., Voss, M.W., VanPatter, M., Kramer, A.F. (2010). A neuroimaging investigation of the association between aerobic fitness, hippocampal volume and memory performance in preadolescent children. Brain Research, 1358, 172–183.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chaddock, L., Erickson, K.I., Prakash, R.S., VanPatter, M., Voss, M.V., Pontifex, M.B., Kramer, A.F. (2010). Basal ganglia volume is associated with aerobic fitness in preadolescent children. Developmental Neuroscience, 32, 249–256.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chaddock, L., Hillman, C.H., Buck, S.M., Cohen, N.J. (2011). Aerobic fitness and executive control of relational memory in preadolescent children. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 43, 344–349.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chomitz, V.R., Slining, M.M., McGowan, R.J., Mitchell, S.E., Dawson, G.F., Hacker, K.A. (2009). Is there a relationship between physical fitness and academic achievement?: Positive results from public school children in the northeastern United States. Journal of School Health, 79, 30–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, N.J., Eichenbaum, H. (1993). Memory, Amnesia, and the Hippocampal System. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Colcombe, S.J., Erickson, K.I., Raz, N., Webb, A.G., Cohen, N.J., McAuley, E., Kramer, A.F. (2003). Aerobic fitness reduces brain tissue loss in aging humans. Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 58, 176–180.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Colcombe, S.J., Erickson, K.I., Scalf, P.E., Kim, J.S., Prakash, R., McAuley, E., Kramer, A.F. (2006). Aerobic exercise training increases brain volume in aging humans. The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 61, 1166–1170.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Colcombe, S.J., Kramer, A.F. (2003). Fitness effects on the cognitive function of older adults: A meta-analytic study. Psychological Science, 14, 125–130.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Colcombe, S.J., Kramer, A.F., Erickson, K.I., Scalf, P., McAuley, E., Cohen, N.J., Elavsky, S. (2004). Cardiovascular fitness, cortical plasticity, and aging. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 101, 3316–3321.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research (1999). Fitnessgram: Test administration manual. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.Google Scholar
Cotman, C.W., Berchtold, N.C. (2002). Exercise: A behavioral intervention to enhance brain health and plasticity. Trends in Neurosciences, 25, 295–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davidson, M.C., Amso, D., Anderson, L.C., Diamond, A. (2006). Development of cognitive control and executive functions from 4 to 13 years: Evidence from manipulations of memory, inhibition, and task switching. Neuropsychologia, 44, 2037–2078.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dehaene, S., Posner, M.I., Tucker, D.M. (1994). Localization of a neural system for error detection and compensation. Psychological Science, 5, 303–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Department of Health and Human Services [DHHS] and Department of Education [DOE]. (2000). Promoting better health for young people through physical activity and sports. A Report to the President from the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Education. Silver Spring, MD: Centers for Disease Control.Google Scholar
DeStefano, D., LeFevre, J.A. (2004). The role of working memory in mental arithmetic. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 16, 353–386.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Di Martino, A., Scheres, A., Marguiles, D.S., Kelly, A.M., Uddin, L.Q., Shehzad, Z., Milham, M.P. (2008). Functional connectivity of human striatum: A resting state fMRI study. Cerebral Cortex, 18, 2735–2747.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Diamond, A. (2006). The early development of executive functions. In E. Bialystok, & F.I.M. Craik (Eds.), Lifespan Cognition: Mechanisms of Change. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Diamond, A., Taylor, C. (1996). Development of an aspect of executive control: Development of the abilities to remember what I say and to “do as I say, not as I do”. Developmental Psychobiology, 29, 315–334.3.0.CO;2-T>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ding, Y.H., Luan, X.D., Li, J., Rafols, J.A., Guthinkonda, M., Diaz, F.G., Ding, Y. (2004). Exercise-induced overexpression of angiogenic factors and reduction of ischemia/reperfusion injury in stroke. Current Neurovascular Research, 1, 411–420.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Donnelly, J.E., Greene, J.L., Gibson, C.A., Smith, B.K., Washburn, R.A., Sullivan, D.K., Williams, S.L. (2009). Physical activity across the curriculum (PAAC): A randomized controlled trial to promote physical activity and diminish overweight and obesity in elementary school children. Preventative Medicine, 49, 336–341.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Draganski, B., Kherif, F., Kloppel, S., Cook, P.A., Alexander, D.C., Parker, G.J., Frackowiak, R.S. (2008). Evidence for segregated and integrative connectivity patterns in the human basal ganglia. The Journal of Neuroscience, 28, 7143–7152.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Duncan-Johnson, C.C. (1981). P3 latency: A new metric of information processing. Psychophysiology, 18, 207–215.Google Scholar
Eadie, B.D., Redilla, V.A., Christie, B.R. (2005). Voluntary exercise alters the cytoarchitecture of the adult dentate gyrus by increasing cellular proliferation, dendritic complexity, and spine density. The Journal of Comparable Neurology, 486, 39–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eichenbaum, H., Cohen, N.J. (2001). From Conditioning to Conscious Recollection: Memory Systems of the Brain. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Erickson, K.I., Prakash, R.S., Voss, M.W., Chaddock, L., Hu, L., Morris, K.S., Kramer, A.F. (2009). Aerobic fitness is associated with hippocampal volume in elderly humans. Hippocampus, 19, 1030–1039.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Erickson, K.I., Voss, M., Prakash, R., Basak, C., Chaddock, L., Kim, J., Kramer, A.F. (2011) Exercise training increases size of hippocampus and improves memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108(7), 3017–3022.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eriksen, B.A., Eriksen, C.W. (1974). Effects of noise letters on the identification of a target letter in a nonsearch task. Perception & Psychophysics, 16, 143–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Etnier, J.L., Salazar, W., Landers, D.M., Petruzello, S.J., Han, M., Nowell, P. (1997). The influence of physical fitness and exercise upon cognitive functioning: A meta-analysis. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 19, 249–277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Falkenstein, M., Hohnsbein, J., Hoormann, J., Blanke, L. (1991). Effects of crossmodal divided attention on late ERP components. II. Error processing in choice reaction tasks. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 78, 447–455.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fordyce, D.E., Wehner, J.M. (1993). Physical activity enhances spatial learning performance with an associated alteration in hippocampal protein kinase C activity in C57BL/6 and DBA/2 mice. Brain Research, 619, 111–119.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Freedman, D.S., Khan, L.K., Dietz, W.H., Srinivasan, S.R., Berenson, G.S. (2001). Relationship of childhood obesity to coronary heart disease risk factors in adulthood: The Bogalusa heart study. Pediatrics, 108, 712–718.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Friedman, D., Nessler, D., Cycowicz, Y.M., Horton, C. (2009). Development of and change in cognitive control: A comparison of children, young adults, and older adults. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 9, 91–102.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gehring, W.J., Goss, B., Coles, M.G.H., Meyer, D.E., Donchin, E. (1993). A neural system for error detection and compensation. Psychological Science, 4, 385–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gehring, W.J., Knight, R.T. (2000). Prefrontal-cingulate interactions in action monitoring. Nature Neuroscience, 3, 516–520.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Giedd, J.N., Blumenthal, J., Jeffries, N.O., Castellanos, F.X., Liu, H., Zijdenbos, A., Rapoport, J.L. (1999). Brain development during childhood and adolescence: A longitudinal MRI study. Nature Neuroscience, 2, 861–863.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Giedd, J.N., Snell, J.W., Lange, N., Rajapakse, J.C., Casey, B.J., Kozuch, P.L., Rapoport, J.L. (1996). Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging of human brain development: Ages 4–18. Cerebral Cortex, 6, 551–560.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gogtay, N., Giedd, J.N., Lusk, L., Hayashi, K.M., Greenstein, D., Vaituzid, A.C., Thompson, P.M. (2004). Dynamic mapping of human cortical development during childhood through early adulthood. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 101, 8147–8179.Google ScholarPubMed
Graybiel, A.M. (2005). The basal ganglia: Learning new tricks and loving it. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 15, 638–644.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graybiel, A.M. (2008). Habits, rituals and the evaluative brain. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 31, 359–387.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grissom, J.B. (2005). Physical fitness and academic achievement. Journal of Exercise Physiology Online, 8, 11–25.Google Scholar
Heyn, P., Abreu, B.C., Ottenbacher, K.J. (2004). The effects of exercise training on elderly persons with cognitive impairment and dementia: A meta-analysis. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 85, 1694–1704.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hillman, C.H., Belopolsky, A.V., Snook, E.M., Kramer, A.F., McAuley, E. (2004). Physical activity and executive control: Implications for increased cognitive health during older adulthood. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 75, 176–185.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hillman, C.H., Buck, S.M., Themanson, J.R., Pontifex, M.B., Castelli, D.M. (2009). Aerobic fitness and cognitive development: Event-related brain potential and task performance of executive control in preadolescent children. Developmental Psychology, 45, 114–129.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hillman, C.H., Castelli, D.M., Buck, S.M. (2005). Aerobic fitness and neurocognitive function in healthy preadolescent children. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 37, 1967–1974.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hillman, C.H., Erickson, K.I., Kramer, A.F. (2008). Be smart, exercise your heart: Exercise effects on brain and cognition. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 9, 58–65.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hillman, C.H., Kramer, A.F., Belopolsky, A.V., Smith, D.P. (2006). A cross-sectional examination of age and physical activity on performance and event-related brain potentials in a task switching paradigm. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 59, 30–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hillman, C.H., Pontifex, M.B., Motl, R.W., O'Leary, K.C., Johnson, C.R., Scudder, M.R., Castelli, D.M. (submitted). From ERPs to academics.Google Scholar
Hillman, C.H., Weiss, E.P., Hagberg, J.M., Hatfield, B.D. (2002). The relationship of age and cardiovascular fitness to cognitive and motor processes. Psychophysiology, 39, 303–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jensen, A.R. (1992). The importance of intraindividual variation in reaction time. Personality and Individual Differences, 13, 869–881.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jensen, A.R. (1998). The g factor: The science of mental ability. Westport, CT: Praeger.Google Scholar
Juster, T.F., Stafford, F., Ono, H. (2004). Major changes have taken place in how children and teens spend their time: Child development supplement. Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan.Google Scholar
Kok, A. (2001). On the utility of P3 amplitude as a measure of processing capacity. Psychophysiology, 38, 557–577.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kramer, A.F., Hahn, S., Cohen, N., Banich, M., McAuley, E., Harrison, C., Colcombe, A. (1999). Aging, fitness, and neurocognitive function. Nature, 400, 418–419.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kramer, A.F., Humphrey, D.G., Larish, J.F., Logan, G.B., Strayer, D.L. (1994). Aging and inhibition: Beyond a unitary view of inhibitory processing in attention. Psychology and Aging, 9, 491–512.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Li, J., Ding, Y.H., Rafols, J.A., Lai, Q., McAllister, J.P., Ding, Y. (2005). Increased astrocyte proliferation in rats after running exercise. Neuroscience Letters, 386, 160–164.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Liu-Ambrose, T., Donaldson, M. (2009). Exercise and cognition in older adults: Is there a role for resistance training programmes? British Journal of Sports Medicine, 43, 25–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lopez-Lopez, C., LeRoith, D., Torres-Aleman, I. (2004). Insulin-like growth factor I is required for vessel remodeling in the adult brain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 101, 9833–9838.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lu, B., Chow, A. (1999). Neurotrophins and hippocampal synaptic transmission and plasticity. Journal of Neuroscience Research, 58, 176–180.3.0.CO;2-0>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MacDonald, A.W., Cohen, J.D., Stenger, V.A., Carter, C.S. (2000). Dissociating the role of the dorsolateral prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortex in cognitive control. Science, 288, 1835–1838.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mahar, M.T., Murphy, S.K., Rowe, D.A., Golden, J., Shields, A.T., Raedeke, T.D. (2006). Effects of a classroom-based program on physical activity and on-task behavior. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 38, 2086–2094.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marais, L., Stein, D.J., Daniels, W.M. (2009). Exercise increases BDNF levels in the striatum and decreases depressive-like behavior in chronically stressed rats. Metabolic Brain Disease, 24, 587–597.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marques, E., Vasconcelos, F., Rolo, M.R., Pereira, F.C., Silva, A.P., Macedo, T.R., Ribeiro, C.F. (2008). Influence of chronic exercise on the amphetamine-induced dopamine release and neurodegeneration in the striatum of the rat. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1139, 222–231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, D.E., Kieras, D.E. (1997). A computational theory of executive cognitive processes and multi-task performance: Part 1. Basic Mechanisms. Psychological Review, 104, 3–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miltner, W.H., Lemke, U., Weiss, T., Holroyd, C., Scheffers, M.K., Coles, M.G. (2003). Implementation of error-processing in the human anterior cingulated cortex: A source analysis of the magnetic equivalent of the error-related negativity. Biological Psychology, 64, 157–166.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miyake, A., Friedman, N.P., Emerson, M.J., Witzki, A.H., Howerter, A. (2000). The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex “frontal lobe” tasks: A latent variable analysis. Cognitive Psychology, 41, 49–100.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Neeper, S., Gomez-Pinilla, F., Choi, J., Cotman, C.W. (1995). Exercise and brain neurotrophins. Nature, 373, 109.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nieuwenhuis, S., Ridderinkhof, K.R., Blom, J., Band, G.P., Kok, A. (2001). Error-related brain potentials are differentially related to awareness of response errors: Evidence from an antisaccade task. Psychophysiology, 38, 752–760.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Norman, D.A., Shallice, T. (1986). Attention to action: Willed and automatic control of behavior. In R.J. Davidson G.E. Schwartz & D. Shapiro (Eds.), Consciousness and Self-Regulation: Vol. 4. Advances in Research and Theory. New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Ogden, C., Carroll, M. (2010). Prevalence of Obesity Among Children and Adolescents: United States, Trends 1963–1965 Through 2007–2008. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/obesity_child_07_08/obesity_child_07_08.pdfGoogle Scholar
Olshansky, S.J., Passaro, D.J., Hershow, R.C., Layden, J., Carnes, B.A., Brody, J., Ludwig, D.S. (2005). A potential decline in life expectancy in the United States in the 21st century. The New England Journal of Medicine, 352, 1138–1143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pate, R.R., Baranowski, T., Dowda, M., Trost, S. (1996). Tracking of physical activity in young children. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 28, 92–96.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peligrini, A.D., Smith, P.K. (1993). School recess: Implications for education and development. Review of Educational Research, 63, 51–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pereira, A.C., Huddleston, D.E., Brickman, A.M., Sosunov, A.A., Hen, R., McKhann, G.M., Small, S.A. (2007). An in vivo correlate of exercise-induced neurogenesis in the adult dentate gyrus. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104, 5638–5643.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polich, J. (1987). Task difficulty, probability and inter-stimulus interval as determinants of P300 from auditory stimuli. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 63, 251–259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polich, J. (2007). Updating P300: An integrative theory of P3a and P3b. Clinical Neurophysiology, 118, 2128–2148.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Polich, J., Heine, M.R. (1996). P3 topography and modality effects from a single-stimulus paradigm. Psychophysiology, 33, 747–752.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polich, J., Lardon, M. (1997). P300 and long-term physical exercise. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 103, 493–498.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pontifex, M.B., Hillman, C.H., Polich, J. (2009). Age, physical fitness, and attention: P3a and P3b. Psychophysiology, 46, 379–387.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pontifex, M.B., Raine, L.B., Johnson, C.R., Chaddock, L., Voss, M.W., Cohen, N.J., Hillman, C.H. (2010). Cardiorespiratory fitness and the flexible modulation of cognitive control in preadolescent children. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, [Epub ahead of print].Google ScholarPubMed
Ragozzino, M.E., Jih, J., Tzavos, A. (2002). Involvement of the dorsomedial striatum in behavioral flexibility: Role of muscarinic cholinergic receptors. Brain Research, 953, 205–214.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ridderinkhof, K.R., Ullsperger, M., Crone, E.A., Nieuwenhuis, S. (2004). The role of the medial frontal cortex in cognitive control. Science, 306, 443–447.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ridderinkhof, K.R., van der Molen, M.W. (1995). A psychophysiological analysis of developmental differences in the ability to resist interference. Child Development, 66, 1040–1056.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, C.K., Freed, B., McCarthy, W.J. (2010). Low aerobic fitness and obesity are associated with lower standardized test scores in children. The Journal of Pediatrics, 156, 711–718.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rohde, T.E., Thompson, L.A. (2007). Predicting academic achievement with cognitive ability. Intelligence, 35, 83–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rueda, M.R., Rothbart, M.K., McCandliss, B.D., Saccomanno, L., Posner, M.I. (2005). Training, maturation, and genetic influences on the development of executive attention. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 102, 14931–14936.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sallis, J.F., McKenzie, T.L., Kolody, B., Lewis, M., Marshall, S., Rosengard, P. (1999). Effects of health-related physical education on academic achievement: Project SPARK. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 70, 127–134.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shi, L.H., Luo, F., Woodward, D.J., Chang, J.Y. (2004). Neural responses in multiple basal ganglia regions during spontaneous and treadmill locomotion tasks in rats. Experimental Brain Research, 157, 303–314.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sibley, B.A., Etnier, J.L. (2003). The relationship between physical activity and cognition in children: A meta-analysis. Pediatric Exercise Science, 15, 243–256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sisson, S.B., Church, T.S., Martin, C.K., Tudor-Locke, C., Smith, S.R., Bouchard, C., Katzmarzyk, P.T. (2009). Profiles of sedentary behavior in children and adolescents: The US national health and nutrition examination survey, 2001-2006. International Journal of Pediatric Obesity, 4, 353–359.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, P.J., Blumenthal, J.A., Hoffman, B.M., Cooper, H., Strauman, T.A., Welsh-Bohmer, K., Sherwood, A. (2010). Aerobic exercise and neurocognitive performance: A meta-analytic review of randomized controlled trials. Psychosomatic Medicine, 72, 239–252.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
St. Clair-Thompson, H.L., Gathercole, S.E. (2006). Executive functions and achievements in school: Shifting, updating, inhibition, and working memory. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 59, 745–759.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
The Psychological Corporation. (2001). WIAT-II-A: Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-Second Edition. San Antonio: The Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Themanson, J.R., Hillman, C.H. (2006). Cardiorespiratory fitness and acute aerobic exercise effects on neuroelectric and behavioral measures of action monitoring. Neuroscience, 141, 757–767.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Themanson, J.R., Hillman, C.H., Curtin, J.J. (2006). Age and physical activity influences on action monitoring during task switching. Neurobiology of Aging, 27, 1335–1345.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Themanson, J.R., Pontifex, M.B., Hillman, C.H. (2008). Fitness and action monitoring: Evidence for improved cognitive flexibility in young adults. Neuroscience, 157, 319–328.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tillerson, J.L., Cohen, A.D., Philhower, J., Miller, G.W., Zigmond, M.J., Schallert, T. (2001). Forced limb-use effects on the behavioral and neurochemical effects of 6-hydroxydopamine. The Journal of Neuroscience, 21, 4427–4435.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Travis, F. (1998). Cortical and cognitive development in 4th, 8th, and 12th grade students: The contribution of speed of processing and executive functioning to cognitive development. Biological Psychology, 48, 37–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Praag, H., Christie, B.R., Sejnowski, T.J., Gage, F.H. (1999). Running enhances neurogenesis, learning, and long-term potentiation in mice. Neurobiology, 96, 13427–13431.Google ScholarPubMed
van Praag, H., Shubert, T., Zhao, C., Gage, F.H. (2005). Exercise enhances learning and hippocampal neurogenesis in aged mice. The Journal of Neuroscience, 25, 8680–8685.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Veen, V., Carter, C.S. (2002). The timing of action-monitoring processes in the anterior cingulate cortex. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 14, 593–602.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vaynman, S., Gomez-Pinilla, F. (2006). Revenge of the “sit”: How lifestyle impacts neuronal and cognitive health through molecular systems that interface energy metabolism with neuronal plasticity. Journal of Neuroscience Research, 84, 699–715.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vaynman, S., Ying, Z., Gomez-Pinilla, F. (2004). Hippocampal BDNF mediates the efficacy of exercise on synaptic plasticity and cognition. European Journal of Neuroscience, 20, 2580–2590.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Verleger, R. (1997). On the utility of P3 latency as an index of mental chronometry. Psychophysiology, 34, 131–156.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Voss, M.W., Chaddock, L., Kim, J.S., VanPatter, M., Pontifex, M.B., Raine, L.B., Kramer, A.F. (submitted). Aerobic fitness is associated with greater efficiency of the network underlying cognitive control in preadolescent children. Journal of Neuroscience.Google Scholar
Welk, G.J., Morrow, J.R.J., Falls, H.B. (2002). Fitnessgram Reference Guide. Dallas, TX: The Cooper Institute.Google Scholar