Effects of physical activity on children’s executive function: Contributions of experimental research on aerobic exercise

Executive function refers to the cognitive processes necessary for goal-directed cognition and behavior, which develop across childhood and adolescence. Recent experimental research indicates that both acute and chronic aerobic exercise promote children’s executive function. Furthermore, there is tentative evidence that not all forms of aerobic exercise benefit executive function equally: Cognitively-engaging exercise appears to have a stronger effect than non-engaging exercise on children’s executive function. This review discusses this evidence as well as the mechanisms that may underlie the association between exercise and executive function. Research from a variety of disciplines is covered, including developmental psychology, kinesiology, cognitive neuroscience, and biopsychology. Finally, these experimental findings are placed within the larger context of known links between action and cognition in infancy and early childhood, and the clinical and practical implications of this research are discussed.

Research highlights
► Both acute and chronic aerobic exercise promote children’s executive function.
► Complex aerobic exercise may have a stronger effect on executive function.
► The current findings should be related to research on movement and cognition.
► Aerobic exercise may be an effective intervention for several clinical populations.