Medical School, Quzhou College of Technology, Quzhou, Zhejiang 324000, China.
Department of Sports, Quzhou University, Quzhou, Zhejiang 324000, China.
J Exp Child Psychol. 2023 Nov;235:105725. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2023.105725. Epub 2023 Jun 17.
Interventions can improve working memory and attention in school-aged children, but little is known about how regional changes in brain activity promoted by exercise mediate this cognitive improvement. This study focused on the improved neurocognitive functions and intrinsic regional variation within the brain by comparing school-aged children in a martial arts group with those in free-play and rest groups. With a pretest-posttest design, the d2 attention test and N-back tasks were carried out. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy was performed during the pre- and post-intervention N-back tasks and rest. Following the intervention, the d2 attention in all groups remarkably increased, and the attention level of the martial arts group was substantially higher than those of the other two groups. Free-play and martial arts shortened the 1- and 2-back task reaction time and increased the 2-back accuracy rate (AR), and the martial arts group exhibited a significantly higher AR than the other two groups. In addition, the martial arts group showed higher activations in the right orbitofrontal cortex and right Broca's area (r-BA) regions post-intervention 1-back tasks, whereas a strong correlation was observed between 1-back performance and the related brain region. However, under the 2-back task, although the cognitive control was improved, the martial arts group decreased activation in the left frontopolar area and free play decreased the activation in the r-BA and right somatosensory cortex. Together, our findings showed that martial arts could be more conducive to cognitive improvement than physical exercise that requires no cognitive skills and that performing interventions in the earlier stages of childhood may improve the regulation of neural networks involved in cognitive control.
干预可以改善学龄儿童的工作记忆和注意力，但对于运动促进大脑活动的区域变化如何介导这种认知改善知之甚少。本研究通过比较武术组、自由玩耍组和休息组的学龄儿童，关注了通过锻炼改善的神经认知功能和大脑内部的固有区域变化。采用预测试-后测试设计，进行了 d2 注意力测试和 N-back 任务。在预干预和后干预的 N-back 任务和休息期间进行了功能近红外光谱分析。干预后，所有组的 d2 注意力都明显提高，武术组的注意力水平明显高于其他两组。自由玩耍和武术都缩短了 1 回和 2 回任务的反应时间，提高了 2 回的准确率（AR），而武术组的 AR 明显高于其他两组。此外，武术组在干预后 1 回任务中的右侧眶额皮质和右侧布罗卡区（r-BA）区域表现出更高的激活，而 1 回表现与相关脑区之间存在很强的相关性。然而，在 2 回任务下，尽管认知控制得到了改善，但武术组左额极区的激活减少，自由玩耍组 r-BA 和右侧体感皮层的激活减少。总之，我们的研究结果表明，武术比不需要认知技能的体育锻炼更有助于认知改善，并且在儿童早期进行干预可能会改善涉及认知控制的神经网络的调节。
