Targeting the mind and body: recommendations for future research to improve children’s executive functions

Children’s executive functions (EFs)--the cognitive processing underlying controlled, goal-oriented cognition and behavior--have been shown to be important predictors of future physical, mental, and social wellbeing. Thus, developmental researchers are keen to uncover effective methods to improve ch...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Best, John R.
Formato: Artículo revista
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Universidad Nacional de Córdoba 2015
Materias:
executive functions
intervention
physical health
physical exercise
transfer effects
funciones ejecutivas
intervención
salud física
ejercicio físico
efectos de transferencia
Acceso en línea:https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/racc/article/view/60-63
Aporte de:
Revista Argentina de Ciencias del Comportamiento de Universidad Nacional de Córdoba
id I10-R363-article-10579
record_format ojs
institution Universidad Nacional de Córdoba
institution_str I-10
repository_str R-363
container_title_str Revista Argentina de Ciencias del Comportamiento
language Inglés
format Artículo revista
topic executive functions
intervention
physical health
physical exercise
transfer effects
funciones ejecutivas
intervención
salud física
ejercicio físico
efectos de transferencia
spellingShingle executive functions
intervention
physical health
physical exercise
transfer effects
funciones ejecutivas
intervención
salud física
ejercicio físico
efectos de transferencia
Best, John R.
Targeting the mind and body: recommendations for future research to improve children’s executive functions
topic_facet executive functions
intervention
physical health
physical exercise
transfer effects
funciones ejecutivas
intervención
salud física
ejercicio físico
efectos de transferencia
author Best, John R.
author_facet Best, John R.
author_sort Best, John R.
title Targeting the mind and body: recommendations for future research to improve children’s executive functions
title_short Targeting the mind and body: recommendations for future research to improve children’s executive functions
title_full Targeting the mind and body: recommendations for future research to improve children’s executive functions
title_fullStr Targeting the mind and body: recommendations for future research to improve children’s executive functions
title_full_unstemmed Targeting the mind and body: recommendations for future research to improve children’s executive functions
title_sort targeting the mind and body: recommendations for future research to improve children’s executive functions
description Children’s executive functions (EFs)--the cognitive processing underlying controlled, goal-oriented cognition and behavior--have been shown to be important predictors of future physical, mental, and social wellbeing. Thus, developmental researchers are keen to uncover effective methods to improve children’s EFs. While much of the focus in the past decade has been on direct cognitive and behavioral interventions to improve children’s EFs, another line of research--typically undertaken in medical schools and in departments of kinesiology--has examined physical health interventions as a way to indirectly improve children’s EFs. This commentary suggests that there is promising evidence that physical activity-based interventions to increase children’s fitness also enhance children’s EFs. There is ample need for additional studies to firmly establish this effect, and to determine the degree to which intervention effects transfer from laboratory EF assessments to ‘real-world’ functioning.  Finally, there is intriguing evidence from animal models that interventions that combine physical and cognitive training have robust positive impacts on brain health. To translate these findings to humans, there is a need for collaborations between developmental psychologists and physical health experts in order to design interventions that simultaneously target children’s physical and cognitive health.
publisher Universidad Nacional de Córdoba
publishDate 2015
url https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/racc/article/view/60-63
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spelling I10-R363-article-105792019-05-27T16:15:03Z Targeting the mind and body: recommendations for future research to improve children’s executive functions Mente y cuerpo: Recomendaciones para futuras investigaciones orientadas a mejorar las funciones ejecutivas de niños Best, John R. executive functions intervention physical health physical exercise transfer effects funciones ejecutivas intervención salud física ejercicio físico efectos de transferencia Children’s executive functions (EFs)--the cognitive processing underlying controlled, goal-oriented cognition and behavior--have been shown to be important predictors of future physical, mental, and social wellbeing. Thus, developmental researchers are keen to uncover effective methods to improve children’s EFs. While much of the focus in the past decade has been on direct cognitive and behavioral interventions to improve children’s EFs, another line of research--typically undertaken in medical schools and in departments of kinesiology--has examined physical health interventions as a way to indirectly improve children’s EFs. This commentary suggests that there is promising evidence that physical activity-based interventions to increase children’s fitness also enhance children’s EFs. There is ample need for additional studies to firmly establish this effect, and to determine the degree to which intervention effects transfer from laboratory EF assessments to ‘real-world’ functioning.  Finally, there is intriguing evidence from animal models that interventions that combine physical and cognitive training have robust positive impacts on brain health. To translate these findings to humans, there is a need for collaborations between developmental psychologists and physical health experts in order to design interventions that simultaneously target children’s physical and cognitive health. Las funciones ejecutivas (EFs) en niños, es decir aquellas operaciones que subyacen a todo procesamiento cognitivo y conductual orientados a un fin, han demostrado ser predictores importantes del bienestar físico, mental y social. Por tal razón, los investigadores del desarrollo están abocados a descubrir métodos eficaces para mejorarlas. Si bien gran parte de la atención en la última década se ha centrado en las intervenciones cognitivas y conductuales directas, otra línea de investigación realizada en general en escuelas de medicina y kinesiología, ha examinado las intervenciones en la salud física como una forma indirecta para mejorar las EFs en niños. El presente comentario sugiere que hay evidencia prometedora de que las intervenciones basadas en actividades físicas para mejorar el estado físico de los niños también podrían mejorar sus EFs. En tal sentido, en la actualidad hay una gran necesidad de realizar estudios adicionales para establecer firmemente este efecto y para determinar el grado de transferencia de los efectos de intervenciones de laboratorio al funcionamiento en el “mundo real”. Por último, existe evidencia interesante proveniente de estudios realizados con modelos animales en los que intervenciones que combinan componentes cognitivos y físicos tienen impactos positivos sólidos sobre la salud del cerebro. Para traducir estos resultados a modelos con seres humanos, resulta necesaria la colaboración entre psicólogos del desarrollo y expertos en salud física para diseñar intervenciones orientadas simultáneamente a la salud física y cognitiva de los niños. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba 2015-03-26 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion application/pdf https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/racc/article/view/60-63 10.32348/1852.4206.v7.n1.10579 Argentinean Journal of Behavioral Sciences; Vol. 7 No. 1 (2015): Número Especial: "Desarrollo de funciones ejecutivas - Development of executive functions" Revista Argentina de Ciencias del Comportamiento; Vol. 7 Núm. 1 (2015): Número Especial: "Desarrollo de funciones ejecutivas - Development of executive functions" 1852-4206 10.32348/1852.4206.v7.n1 eng https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/racc/article/view/60-63/Best_DE Derechos de autor 2015 John R. Best

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