The-Effect-of-Physical-Activity-on-Executive-Function-A-Brief-Commentary-on-Definitions... - 1 views
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Executive function is a higher order cognitive ability that controls basic, underlying cognitive functions for purposeful, goal-directed behavior and that has been associated with frontal lobe activity
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Kramer and his colleagues hypothesized that the effects of physical activity would be most evident for frontally dependent tasks such as executive function tasks (Kramer, Humphrey, Larish, Logan, & Strayer, 1994).
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When statistically summarized, results indicated that chronic physical activity is particularly beneficial for executive function tasks (effect size = 0.68), as compared with controlled tasks (effect size = 0.46), spatial tasks (effect size = 0.42), and speeded tasks (effect size = 0.27).
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In addition, Salthouse, Atkinson, and Berish (2003) indicated that some specific executive functions (i.e., inhibition, updating, and time sharing) are potential mediators of age-related cognitive decline in normal adults, supporting the hypothesis that physical activity might serve to delay typical age-related declines in cognition.
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Executive function, also known as controlled cognition, resource-demanding cognition, or executive control, is generally defined as a “higher level” or “meta-” cognitive function that manages other more basic cognitive functions (Alvarez & Emory, 2006; Baddeley, 1986; Salthouse, 2007) and the regulation of emotions and attention (Bell & Deater-Deckard, 2007; Blair & Diamond, 2008; Lewis et al., 2008) necessary for purposeful and goal-directed behaviors.
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n the physical activity literature, the focus thus far has been on the cognitive control aspects of executive function
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executive function in the physical activity literature is now typically described as planning, scheduling, inhibition, and working memory (Colcombe & Kramer, 2003; Hillman et al., 2006; Kramer et al., 1999).
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Hughes and Graham (2002) used the classic distinction between automatic and controlled action and indicated that executive function involves planning and decision making, error correction, the implementation of a novel series of actions, performance in situations that are dangerous or technically difficult, and performance that requires overcoming a robust habitual response.
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Similarly, Rabbitt (1997) described executive functions as those dealing with novelty, planning and acting on strategies for performance, and using feedback to alter subsequent responses.
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This is likely to be indicative of the relatively recent interest in executive function in exercise psychology and is illustrative of how little data we actually have available on the effects of physical activity on executive function.
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Salthouse (2005) has called for caution in using executive function as though it represents a construct that is distinct from other cognitive dimensions.
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Researchers examining the effect of physical activity on executive function are encouraged to consider the complexity of the executive function construct and to give careful consideration to whether to include multiple measures of executive function to identify the effect on the broad construct of executive function or to focus on a specific executive function (e.g., shifting, inhibition, or updating) in their research (Miyake, Emerson, & Friedman, 2000a; Miyake et al., 2000b; Salthouse, 2007) .
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Miyake et al. (2000a) suggested that because it is impossible to find a “pure” executive function measure, multiple neuropsychological measures should be used to minimize “task impurity” and to assess the broad construct. Another solution is to be clear in understanding the subcomponent(s) that are assessed by a particular behavioral measure (Jurado & Rosselli, 2007) and to use care in not overgeneralizing to the broader construct of executive function
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the WCST is sensitive to frontal lobe damage and is purported to assess the executive functions of switching, inhibition, updating, and selective attention (Alvarez & Emory, 2006; Greve et al., 2005).
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To perform the TMT successfully requires a variety of abilities, including number recognition, visual scanning with a motor component, and mental flexibility
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In addition, performance on the TMT-B has increased requirements (as compared with the TMT-A) in terms of task-set inhibition ability, cognitive flexibility, and the ability to maintain a response set (Arbuthnott & Frank, 2000; Kortte, Horner, & Windhan, 2002). To isolate the executive function requirements of the TMT-B from the general processes of perceiving and responding, the difference between TMT-B and TMT-A or the ratio of TMT-B to TMT-A has typically been used as the measure of executive function (Arbuthnott & Frank, 2000; Salthouse et al., 2003).
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Thus, these definitions reflect an emphasis on executive function as critical for performance in novel situations or when the performer is required to inhibit a previously learned response.
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Another way of looking at this is that only 10 of the 29 executive function tasks identified as being most commonly used in the neuropsychology literature have been used in studies testing the relationship between physical activity and cognitive performance.