Six-Minute Walking Test Performance Relates to Neurocognitive Abilities in Preschoolers

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between six-minute walking test (6MWT) distance walked and preschool-aged children’s academic abilities, and behavioral and event-related potentials (ERP) indices of cognitive control. There were 59 children (25 females; age: 5.0 ± 0.6 years) who completed a 6MWT (mean distance: 449.6 ± 82.0 m) to estimate cardiorespiratory fitness. The Woodcock Johnson Early Cognitive and Academic Development Test evaluated academic abilities. A modified Eriksen flanker, hearts and flowers task, and auditory oddball task eliciting ERPs (N2, P3) assessed cognitive control. After adjusting for adiposity, diet, and demographics, linear regressions resulted in positive relationships between 6MWT distance and General Intellectual Ability (β = 0.25, Adj R2 = 0.04, p = 0.04) and Expressive Language (β = 0.30, Adj R2 = 0.13, p = 0.02). 6MWT distance was positively correlated with congruent accuracy (β = 0.29, Adj R2 = 0.18, p < 0.01) and negatively with incongruent reaction time (β = −0.26, Adj R2 = 0.05, p = 0.04) during the flanker task, and positively with homogeneous (β = 0.23, Adj R2 = 0.21, p = 0.04) and heterogeneous (β = 0.26, Adj R2 = 0.40, p = 0.02) accuracy on the hearts and flowers task. Higher fit children showed faster N2 latencies and greater P3 amplitudes to target stimuli; however, these were at the trend level following the adjustment of covariates. These findings indicate that the positive influence of cardiorespiratory fitness on cognitive function is evident in 4–6-year-olds.

The relationship of muscular endurance and coordination and dexterity with behavioral and neuroelectric indices of attention in preschool children

“…Increased P3 amplitude has been theorized to reflect a more mature neuroelectric profile 35 related to the functioning of fronto-parietal network 31 – 33 , which is important for the attention network systems 2 . However, NAF and its subcomponents were not correlated with the latency of P3, consisting with a recent systematic review that physical activity and aerobic fitness may have less robust associations with P3 latency throughout the life span 44 as well as an observational study showing selective association of aerobic fitness with amplitude but not latency measure of P3 in preschool children 12 . Accordingly, muscular endurance may have unique positive associations with brain function underlying attention networks that support task-related attentional allocation processes but not the speed of information processing during early childhood.…”

“…Seventy-six participants who completed all testing and had a minimum of 15 accepted artifact-free EEG epochs for quantifying P3 (target: 34 ± 10; standard: 135 ± 38) and alpha ERD (target: 34 ± 10; standard: 135 ± 39) outcomes were included in the statistical analysis. The analyzed sample should allow a power = 0.87 to detect the hypothesized associations of NAF and MC with behavioral ( f 2 = 0.16) 14 and neuroelectric indices of attention ( r = 0.37) 12 .…”

“…These beneficial associations may reflect more effective neuroinhibition in facilitating increased allocation of attentional resources to and enhanced speed for evaluating task-relevant stimulus 44 as well as more matured brain function 35 in children who are more physically fit or competent in motor skills. Recent research has extended this association to preschool children, with preliminary evidence showing a positive correlation between distance walked in a 6-min walking test, as an estimate of aerobic fitness, with P3 amplitude during an auditory stimulus discrimination task 12 , suggesting the potential importance of aerobic fitness to neuroelectric function during early childhood. However, the existing literature in preschool children lacks an understanding of P3 in relation to NAF domains and MC, which are closely related to early childhood physical health outcomes 20 , 45 and neurocognitive function 21 .…”

“…Aerobic fitness is the ability of the circulatory and respiratory systems to supply oxygen during physical activity 6 and has a positive relationship with cognitive health 7 likely through its mechanistic role in the cerebral oxygenation 8 in support of brain networks responsible for attention and executive function 9 . During preschool years, aerobic fitness is associated with better attention 10 , attentional inhibition 11 , 12 , and perceptual/conceptual skills 13 .…”

The relationship of physical fitness and motor competence with behavioral and neuroelectric indices of attention in preschool children

“…Kao et al, 2020), given that the functional connectivity related to these brain regions underlie the associations of dorsal/ventral attention and the frontoparietal executive control networks with aerobic fitness (Talukdar et al, 2018). Recent research has extended this association to preschool children, with preliminary evidence showing a positive correlation between distance walked in a 6-min walking test, as an estimate of aerobic fitness, with P3 amplitude during an auditory stimulus discrimination task (Keye et al, 2021), suggesting the potential importance of aerobic fitness to neuroelectric function during early childhood. However, the existing literature lacks an understanding of P3 in relation to other fitness domains and motor skills, which are closely related to physical health outcomes (Robinson et al, 2015;Smith et al, 2014) and neurocognitive development (Diamond, 2000).…”