Considering the convincing evidence that executive functions predict academic achievement significantly, strategies to foster executive functions in the early school years are highly requested. Besides traditional cognitive training, combined physical and cognitive interventions are intended to be a feasible way of enhancing both children’s daily physical activity and executive functions. The purpose of the present study was therefore to test the effectiveness of a six-week combined physical-cognitive intervention, and to compare it to both a sedentary cognitive intervention and a waitlist control group. Using a between-subjects experimental design, 189 children aged between four and six years (M = 5.34, SD = 0.59) were recruited from 14 kindergarten classes, which were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: (a) combined physical and cognitive training, (b) sedentary cognitive training or (c) waitlist control group. Before and after the interventions, all three core executive functions of updating, inhibition and shifting were measured. Physical activity was objectively measured using accelerometers during one intervention session. Linear mixed models revealed that children from both the combined physical-cognitive and the sedentary cognitive intervention improved their updating performance compared to the children of the control group. Inhibition and shifting remained unaffected by both interventions. With respect to children’s daily physical activity, linear mixed models showed that only the combined physical-cognitive intervention could significantly increase the amount of step counts. The results underline the feasibility of combined physical-cognitive interventions to enhance children’s daily physical activity and their cognitive performance.

考虑到有说服力的证据表明行政职能可以显着预测学业成就，因此强烈要求在学年早期培养行政职能的策略。除了传统的认知训练外，身体和认知干预相结合旨在成为增强儿童日常身体活动和执行功能的可行方法。因此，本研究的目的是测试六周综合身体认知干预的有效性，并将其与久坐认知干预和候补对照组进行比较。使用受试者之间的实验设计，对189位四到六岁的儿童进行了测试（M  = 5.34，SD = 0.59）从14个幼儿园班级中招募，这些班级被随机分配到以下三个实验条件之一：（a）身体和认知训练相结合，（b）久坐认知训练或（c）等待清单对照组。干预前后，对更新，抑制和转移这三个核心执行功能进行了测量。在一次干预过程中，使用加速度计客观地测量了身体活动。线性混合模型显示，与对照组儿童相比，肢体认知和久坐认知干预相结合的儿童改善了他们的更新表现。抑制和转移都不受这两种干预的影响。关于儿童的日常运动，线性混合模型表明，只有结合物理认知干预才能显着增加步数。结果强调了结合体育认知干预措施以增强儿童的日常体育活动及其认知能力的可行性。