Department of Psychology, The Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL, USA.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2013 Mar 12;7:72. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00072. eCollection 2013.
This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the influence of a 9-month physical activity program on task-evoked brain activation during childhood. The results demonstrated that 8- to 9-year-old children who participated in 60+ min of physical activity, 5 days per week, for 9 months, showed decreases in fMRI brain activation in the right anterior prefrontal cortex coupled with within-group improvements in performance on a task of attentional and interference control. Children assigned to a wait-list control group did not show changes in brain function. Furthermore, at post-test, children in the physical activity group showed similar anterior frontal brain patterns and incongruent accuracy rates to a group of college-aged young adults. Children in the wait-list control group still differed from the young adults in terms of anterior prefrontal activation and performance at post-test. There were no significant changes in fMRI activation in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) for either group. These results suggest that physical activity during childhood may enhance specific elements of prefrontal cortex function involved in cognitive control.
本研究采用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）技术，考察了为期 9 个月的体育活动方案对儿童期任务诱发脑激活的影响。结果表明，每周 5 天、每天进行 60 分钟以上体育活动的 8-9 岁儿童，其右侧前额叶前皮质的 fMRI 脑激活减少，同时在注意力和干扰控制任务上的表现也有所提高。被分配到等待名单对照组的儿童在大脑功能方面没有变化。此外，在测试后，体育活动组的儿童在前额叶的脑模式和不一致的准确率方面与一组成年大学生相似。在测试后，等待名单对照组的儿童在前额叶激活和表现方面仍与成年大学生存在差异。两个组在前扣带皮层（ACC）的 fMRI 激活均无显著变化。这些结果表明，儿童时期的体育活动可能增强了与认知控制相关的前额叶皮层功能的特定元素。
