Background

Recent evidence suggests improvements in memory performance following a single bout of physical activity in young children. However, few investigations have explored individual differences associated with these activity-induced changes in memory performance.

Objectives

The present study investigated the effects of acute physical activity on recognition memory during and after treadmill walking in preadolescent children (n = 39; 24 females) with further exploration of individual differences in body mass index (BMI).

Methods

Word recognition memory performance was assessed during and after the cessation of a moderate bout of walking (60% heart rate max; 20-min duration) or seated rest on separate days.

Results

Children demonstrated unaltered word recall performance during walking compared to seated rest. Additionally, performance after walking revealed greater improvements in primacy accuracy (probability of correctly identifying the first ten words) relative to during walking and after seated rest. Additionally, evaluating only children who are overweight/obese (≥85th BMI percentile) revealed greater improvements in primacy accuracy following the walking bout with no effect observed for the normal weight group.

Conclusions

Together, these findings demonstrate that single bouts of walking are more effective for improving memory performance than non-active rest periods of a similar duration and may be enhanced to a greater degree among children who are overweight/obese. Such findings add to the growing body of literature supporting the need for active opportunities among all youth and further indicate the importance of advancing such opportunities among overweight/obese children to improve memory performance along with physical health.

中文翻译：

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步行对儿童记忆的影响：对BMI个体差异的影响

背景

最近的证据表明，在幼儿进行一次体育锻炼后，其记忆力就会得到改善。但是，很少有研究探索与这些活动引起的记忆性能变化相关的个体差异。

目标

本研究调查了青春期前儿童（n  = 39； 24名女性）在跑步机行走期间和之后急性运动对识别记忆的影响，并进一步探讨了体重指数（BMI）的个体差异。

方法

在中度行走（分别为60％最大心率；持续20分钟）或中途休息后的中途休息期间和之后评估单词识别记忆的性能。

结果

与坐着休息相比，儿童在步行过程中表现出不变的单词回忆能力。此外，步行后的表现表明，相对于步行过程中和就座后的休息而言，初等准确性（正确识别前十个单词的概率）有更大的提高。另外，仅评估超重/肥胖（≥85th BMI百分位数）的儿童显示，步行回合后初次准确性提高了，而正常体重组未见效果。

结论

总之，这些发现表明，单步步行比类似时间的非主动休息时间更有效地改善记忆力，并且在超重/肥胖儿童中可能得到更大程度的提高。这些发现增加了越来越多的文献，支持了所有青年人对积极机会的需求，并进一步表明了在超重/肥胖儿童中促进这种机会以改善记忆力和身体健康的重要性。