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Research ArticleOpen Access

Acute Effects of Aerobic Physical Activities on Attention and Concentration in School-aged Children

Volume 1 - Issue 5

Weiyun Chen1, Zhanjia Zhang1, Brooke Callaghan1, Lexi LaChappa1, Morgan Chen1 and Zhonghui He*2

  • Author Information Open or Close
    • 1School of kinesiology, University of Michigan, USA
    • 2Department of Physical Education, Peking University, China

    *Corresponding author: Zhonghui He, The Department of Physical Education, Peking University Address.NO.303, Wusi Sports Center, Haidian District, Beijing, China

Received: October 17, 2017;   Published: October 23, 2017

DOI: 10.26717/BJSTR.2017.01.000456

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Abstract

Purpose: It is unknown whether or not a PA intervention can produce positive effects on students’ attention and concentration late in the school day (i.e., afternoon). Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the acute effect of 30-min PE lessons on students’ attention and concentration late in the school day.

Methods: A total of 115 fourth- and fifth-grade students participated in this study with the mean age of 9.41 years old for fourth grade students (n=58) and 10.41 years old for fifth-grade students (n=57). One fourth-grade class and one fifth-grade class were randomly assigned to the intervention group, while the other one fourth-grade class and the other fifth-grade class were randomly assigned to the comparison group. The intervention took place after all classes attended a 30-min regular late afternoon academic lesson. The intervention students took the d2 Test of Attention before and after attending a 30-min aerobic PA-focused PE lesson, while the comparison students took the d2 Test of Attention before and after attending a 30-min lecture-typed PE lesson. The d2 Test is standardized paper and pencil letter-cancellation test that measures neuropsychology performance of the students in the areas of sustained and selective attention as well as concentration.

Results: 2 (pre-test vs. post-test) x 2 (Experimental Group vs. Comparison Group) ANOVA revealed a significant effect of time, but no significant effect of group for processing speed (TN), accuracy (E%), and concentration (CP). Further, the repeated measures ANOVA indicated that there was no significant interaction between time × group in TN and E%, but there was a significant level of the time x group intervention in CP, close to p< .05.

Conclusion: It was concluded that after participating in both the 30-min aerobic PA-focused PE lesson and the 30-min interactive lecturetyped PE lesson late in the school day, the students had greater improvement in attention and concentration, compared to after attending the 30-min regular academic lesson.

Keywords : Focused attention; Sustained attention; Concentration; Aerobic physical activity

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