Effects of single bout exercise with different cognitive demands on inhibitory control in elementary school children

Introduction Inhibitory control is a core component of executive function that develops substantially during childhood. Although cognitively demanding exercise has been proposed to enhance inhibitory control, findings regarding the effects of varying cognitive demand remain inconsistent. This study examined the acute effects of exercises with different cognitive demands on inhibitory control in children. Methods Twenty-six children (Mage = 11.8, SD = 0.5) completed three exercise conditions in a randomized crossover design: high cognitively demanding exercise (HE), low cognitively demanding exercise (LE), and active control (AC). Inhibitory control was assessed using the Flanker task. Change scores in reaction time, accuracy, and Flanker effect were analyzed, and exploratory distributional analyses were conducted using conditional accuracy functions and delta plots. Results Reaction time and accuracy did not differ across exercise conditions (all p > 0.05). However, the reduction in Flanker effect was greater following AC than LE ( p = 0.04, d = −0.81). No statistically significant condition-related differences were detected in the exploratory distributional indices (all p > 0.05); these analyses should be interpreted as hypothesis-generating. Discussion Overall, these findings suggest that exercises with higher cognitive demand may not yield greater benefits to inhibitory control than lower-demanding exercises under the higher-than-intended physical intensity elicited in the present protocol. Future studies should consider children’s limited physical and cognitive resources when designing interventions to optimize the potential synergistic effects of cognitively demanding exercise.