Associations of subjectively and objectively measured sedentary behavior and physical activity with cognitive development in the early years

- Objective measures of behavior were not associated with cognitive development.
- Television viewing was unfavorably associated with vocabulary.
- Non-organized and total physical activity were favorably associated with vocabulary.
- The behaviors were not associated with working memory and response inhibition.

PurposeTo examine the associations of subjectively and objectively measured sedentary behavior and physical activity with cognitive development in a sample of 30-59 month olds.MethodsCross-sectional findings are based on 100 early years children (43.4 ± 9.4 months; 53% female) from Edmonton, Canada that were part of the Physical Activity and Cognition in Early Childhood (PACE) study. Sedentary time and physical activity (light-intensity, moderate- to vigorous-intensity, total) were objectively measured with an accelerometer. Sedentary behavior (television, video/computer games, screen time) and physical activity (organized, non-organized, total) were also subjectively measured with a parental questionnaire. Vocabulary was measured with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Fourth Edition, working memory was measured with the Nebraska Barnyard task, and response inhibition was measured with the Fish-Shark Go/No-Go task. Correlations and linear regression were used to examine associations.ResultsTotal subjective physical activity (r = 0.31; p = 0.018) and non-organized physical activity (r = 0.27; p = 0.035) were significantly positively correlated with vocabulary. Conversely, television viewing (r = −0.21; p = 0.046) was significantly negatively correlated with vocabulary. These significant associations remained in linear regression models after adjusting for age. Objectively measured sedentary time and physical activity were not significantly associated with any cognitive development measure and no sedentary behavior or physical activity measure was associated with working memory or response inhibition.ConclusionsTelevision viewing may be detrimental and physical activity, especially non-organized, may be beneficial for vocabulary in early years children. Future research with larger sample sizes and longitudinal and experimental study designs are needed to confirm these findings and determine the mechanisms.