Liu Shijie, Yu Qian, Li Zaimin, Cunha Paolo Marcello, Zhang Yanjie, Kong Zhaowei, Lin Wang, Chen Sitong, Cai Yujun
School of Physical Education and Sport Training, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China.
Exercise and Mental Health Laboratory, School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.
Front Psychol. 2020 Dec 17;11:554915. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.554915. eCollection 2020.
Physical exercises can affect executive function both acutely and chronically, with different mechanisms for each moment. Currently, only a few reviews have elaborated on the premise that different types of exercises have different mechanisms for improving executive function. Therefore, the primary purpose of our systematic review was to analyze the effects of acute and chronic exercises on executive function in children and adolescents. We identified acute and chronic exercise studies and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of executive function in children and adolescents that reported overall effect, heterogeneity, and publication bias of acute and chronic exercises on executive function. We searched for RCTs of exercise interventions in children and adolescents from databases including PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, The Cochrane Library, CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure), and Wanfang, from January 1 2009 to December 31 2019. We performed methodological quality evaluations on the included literature using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database Scale (PEDro) and graded evidence with a meta-analysis using Stata 12.0 software. In total, 36 RCTs were included (14 acute exercises, 22 chronic exercises); the overall results of the meta-analysis (4,577 students) indicated that acute exercises significantly improved working memory (standardized mean difference (SMD) = -0.72; 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.89 to -0.56; < 0.001), inhibitory control (SMD = -0.25; 95% CI -0.40 to -0.09; = 0.002), and cognitive flexibility (SMD = -0.34; 95% CI -0.55 to -0.14; < 0.005), whereas chronic exercises significantly improved working memory (SMD = -0.54; 95% CI -0.74 to -0.33; < 0.001), inhibitory control (SMD = -0.30; 95% CI -0.38 to -0.22; < 0.001), and cognitive flexibility (SMD = -0.34, 95 % CI -0.48 to -0.20, < 0.001). Acute and chronic exercises can effectively improve the executive function of children and adolescents. The effects on inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility are considered as small effect sizes, while the effects on working memory are considered as moderate effect size. Limited by the quantity and quality of the included studies, the above conclusions need to be verified with more high-quality studies.
体育锻炼可在急性和慢性层面影响执行功能，且在每个阶段有着不同机制。目前，仅有少数综述阐述了不同类型的锻炼改善执行功能存在不同机制这一前提。因此，我们系统综述的主要目的是分析急性和慢性锻炼对儿童及青少年执行功能的影响。我们检索了关于儿童及青少年执行功能的急性和慢性锻炼研究以及随机对照试验（RCT），这些研究报告了急性和慢性锻炼对执行功能的总体效应、异质性及发表偏倚。我们从包括PubMed、科学网、Scopus、考克兰图书馆、中国知网（中国国家知识基础设施）和万方在内的数据库中，检索了2009年1月1日至2019年12月31日期间儿童及青少年运动干预的随机对照试验。我们使用物理治疗证据数据库量表（PEDro）对纳入文献进行方法学质量评估，并使用Stata 12.0软件通过荟萃分析对证据进行分级。总共纳入了36项随机对照试验（14项急性锻炼，22项慢性锻炼）；荟萃分析的总体结果（4577名学生）表明，急性锻炼显著改善了工作记忆（标准化均数差（SMD）=-0.72；95%置信区间（CI）-0.89至-0.56；P<0.001）、抑制控制（SMD=-0.25；95%CI-0.40至-0.09；P=0.002）和认知灵活性（SMD=-0.34；95%CI-0.55至-0.14；P<0.005），而慢性锻炼显著改善了工作记忆（SMD=-0.54；95%CI-0.74至-0.33；P<0.001）、抑制控制（SMD=-0.30；95%CI-0.38至-0.22；P<0.001）和认知灵活性（SMD=-0.34，95%CI-0.48至-0.20，P<0.001）。急性和慢性锻炼均可有效改善儿童及青少年的执行功能。对抑制控制和认知灵活性的影响被视为小效应量，而对工作记忆的影响被视为中等效应量。受纳入研究的数量和质量限制，上述结论需要更多高质量研究加以验证。
