Westfall Daniel R, Gejl Anne K, Tarp Jakob, Wedderkopp Niels, Kramer Arthur F, Hillman Charles H, Bugge Anna
Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States.
Centre of Research in Childhood Health, Institute for Sport Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
Front Psychol. 2018 Aug 14;9:1298. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01298. eCollection 2018.
Previous research has found positive associations between cognitive control and aerobic fitness in preadolescents and adults; however, fewer studies have investigated these associations in adolescents. Adolescence is of particular interest due to continued maturation of the prefrontal cortex; an area that subserves cognitive control. This study investigated the associations of aerobic fitness and cognitive control in adolescents. An assessment of aerobic fitness (Andersen intermittent running test) and two tests of cognitive control were collected to investigate these associations. Participants completed a test of inhibitory control (flanker task) and a test of cognitive flexibility (switch task). Along with traditional measures of reaction time (RT) and accuracy, diffusion modeling was utilized to combine these measures to calculate latent variables (i.e., drift rate, boundary separation, and nondecision time). Associations between cognitive measures and fitness were assessed with linear regressions while controlling for potential confounding factors. Higher fitness was associated with shorter reaction time and higher accuracy in the flanker task, indicating better inhibitory control performance. In addition, greater aerobic fitness was associated with greater quality of information uptake in the flanker task, as indicated by drift rate. In the switch task, higher aerobic fitness was associated with greater accuracy and longer switch RT indicating a speed-accuracy tradeoff. Results from the switch task diffusion modeling supported this conclusion as indicated by greater fitness associated with greater boundary separation, or response conservativeness. Further, greater drift rate in the switch task was associated with greater fitness. These findings corroborate growing evidence indicating the importance of aerobic fitness for inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility. This study extends the literature by demonstrating these effects in a large sample of adolescents with a computational model of the mechanisms that underlie cognition.
先前的研究发现，认知控制与青春期前儿童及成年人的有氧适能之间存在正相关；然而，较少有研究在青少年中探究这些关联。由于前额叶皮层（负责认知控制的区域）持续发育，青春期尤其受到关注。本研究调查了青少年有氧适能与认知控制之间的关联。收集了有氧适能评估（安德森间歇跑步测试）以及两项认知控制测试，以探究这些关联。参与者完成了一项抑制控制测试（侧翼任务）和一项认知灵活性测试（切换任务）。除了传统的反应时间（RT）和准确性测量指标外，还利用扩散模型将这些指标结合起来计算潜在变量（即漂移率、边界分离和非决策时间）。在控制潜在混杂因素的同时，通过线性回归评估认知测量指标与适能之间的关联。较高的适能与侧翼任务中较短的反应时间和较高的准确性相关，表明抑制控制表现更好。此外，如漂移率所示，更高的有氧适能与侧翼任务中更高的信息摄取质量相关。在切换任务中，较高的有氧适能与更高的准确性和更长的切换反应时间相关，表明存在速度 - 准确性权衡。切换任务扩散模型的结果支持了这一结论，即更高的适能与更大的边界分离或反应保守性相关。此外，切换任务中更大的漂移率与更高的适能相关。这些发现证实了越来越多的证据，表明有氧适能对抑制控制和认知灵活性的重要性。本研究通过在大量青少年样本中利用认知背后机制的计算模型证明这些效应，扩展了相关文献。
