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Published on: March 7, 2019
The effects of a school-based physical activity intervention programme on children's executive control: The Health
Carolien Konijnenberg1, Per Morten Fredriksen2
11 Department of Psychology, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Lillehammer, Norway.
Aims:
To assess the effects of a large school-based physical activity intervention on children's ability to resist distractions and maintain focus, known as executive control.
Methods:
A quasi-experimental design with seven intervention and two control primary schools. The Health Oriented Pedagogical Project (HOPP) intervention consisted of 45 min of physical activity a day during school time for 6-8 months in addition to the regular weekly physical education lessons. A total of 1173 children, spanning from second grade (age 7 years) to sixth grade (age 12 years) were included in the analysis. Main outcome measures were executive control was measured at baseline and 1 year after using a modified Eriksen flanker task for the younger children (second and third grades) and a computerised Stroop task for the older children (fourth, fifth, and sixth grades).
Results:
Both the intervention and control group showed improvements in executive control after 1 year. However, the children in the intervention group did not improve their performance more than those in the control group.
Conclusions:
No positive effect of the physical activity intervention programme on children's task performance was found, suggesting that the intervention did not affect children's executive control.
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