A functional MRI investigation of the association between childhood aerobic fitness and neurocognitive control

► Only higher fit children maintain task accuracy across early and late congruent and incongruent blocks of the flanker task. ► Flanker performance differences in higher fit and lower fit children are accompanied by different patterns of frontal and parietal fMRI activation. ► Higher fit children may be better at adapting neural processes involved in cognitive control to meet and maintain task goals.