Effects of extracurricular physical activity on inhibitory control in children with different levels of cardiorespiratory fitness

ZHONG Xiaoke; YIN Xinyuan; WANG Chen; ZHANG Xinbi; JIANG Changhao

doi:10.11852/zgetbjzz2025-1316

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Chinese Journal of Child Health Care ›› 2026, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (11) : 1244-1250. DOI: 10.11852/zgetbjzz2025-1316

Effects of extracurricular physical activity on inhibitory control in children with different levels of cardiorespiratory fitness

ZHONG Xiaoke^1,2, YIN Xinyuan², WANG Chen³, ZHANG Xinbi², JIANG Changhao²

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Abstract

Objective To examine the effects of exercise on inhibitory control and prefrontal cortical activity in children, and to investigate the moderating role of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), and explore the underlying neural correlates so as to provide reference for promoting children′s health. Methods In September 2021, 140 children aged 7 - 12 years were recruited from Tsinghua University Primary School Changping Campus using convenience sampling.Based on performance on the 20-meter shuttle run test (20mSRT), 42 children with high CRF and 42 with low CRF were selected to participate in a 12-week extracurricular physical activity intervention.Inhibitory control and prefrontal cortical activity were assessed before and after the intervention using the Flanker task and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), respectively. Results After exclusion of participants with missing data, 39 children in the high-CRF group and 38 in the low-CRF group were included in the analysis.At baseline, the high-CRF group had higher 20mSRT scores (t=-10.616, P<0.001), better inhibitory-control performance, reflected by shorter reaction times (F=4.776, P<0.05), and higher oxygenated hemoglobin (oxy-Hb) concentrations in the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) than the low-CRF group (left: F=6.568, P<0.05; right: F=15.190, P<0.001).After the intervention, 20mSRT scores remained higher in the high-CRF group than in the low-CRF group (t=-7.017, P<0.001).Right DLPFC oxy-Hb concentration was significantly associated with inhibitory control in both groups (low-CRF group: r=0.469, P<0.01; high-CRF group: r=0.354, P<0.05). Conclusions Exercise intervention improves inhibitory control via right DLPFC activation, which plays a key mediating role.Effects vary across CRF levels, indicating cardiorespiratory fitness as a moderating variable.Future primary school physical activity interventions should prioritize CRF enhancement and adopt stratified approaches based on CRF levels to optimally facilitate children′s inhibitory control development.

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extracurricular physical activity / cardiorespiratory fitness / children / inhibitory control / functional near-infrared spectroscopy

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ZHONG Xiaoke, YIN Xinyuan, WANG Chen, ZHANG Xinbi, JIANG Changhao. Effects of extracurricular physical activity on inhibitory control in children with different levels of cardiorespiratory fitness[J]. Chinese Journal of Child Health Care. 2026, 34(11): 1244-1250 https://doi.org/10.11852/zgetbjzz2025-1316

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