Physical activity affects prefrontal function and intelligence in younger children

• Project/Area Number: 24500685
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Physical education
• Research Institution: Hamamatsu University School of Medicine (2015); Nihon Fukushi University (2012-2014)
• Principal Investigator: Harada Taeko 浜松医科大学, 子どものこころの発達研究センター, 特任研究員 (60525963)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2015)
• Budget Amount: ¥5,330,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,230,000); Fiscal Year 2014: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000); Fiscal Year 2013: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000); Fiscal Year 2012: ¥3,380,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥780,000)
• Keywords: 前頭前野 / 発達 / 実行機能 / 認知 / 運動と脳 / 認知機能発達 / 身体活動 / 身体活動と認知発達

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The ability of children to perform two tasks simultaneously is an interesting topic for cognitive development. We examined the development of task coordination in younger children using dual task paradigm. Three hundred twenty two children (4 to 6 years old) and forty seven adults (22 women; mean age = 19 years; SD = 0.5 years) participated in this study. They performed single working memory task and dual task, their performance was evaluated on accuracy and reaction time. Results indicate that dual task performance is appears at early 6 years old and becomes close to adults level before 7 years old. Basic single task performance reaches nearly adult capacity level before 5 years old.

Research Products

• [Presentation] Rapid development of dual task performance during early childhood (2016)
  • Author(s): Taeko Harada
  • Organizer: BCCCD 2016, 6th Annual CEU Conference on Cognitive Development
  • Place of Presentation: Budapest, Hungary
  • Year and Date: 2016-01-09
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Evaluating the front polar function in childhood: implication new cognitive battery for preschool children (2013)
  • Author(s): Taeko H, Niroko F, Tsuruno M
  • Organizer: Society for the Neuroscience
  • Place of Presentation: SanDiego、USA
• [Presentation] Evaluating the front polar function in early childhood: implication new cognitive battery for preschool children (2013)
  • Author(s): Taeko HARADA, Noriko Hujita, Motoharu Tsuruno
  • Organizer: The Society for Neuroscience
  • Place of Presentation: San Diego California