Physical activity and motor skills in children: A differentiated approach

Being physically active plays an essential role in a child's physical development. While there is ample evidence for a positive association between physical activity (PA) and motor skills in children, the question of how PA should be implemented to optimally foster motor skill proficiency is less clear. To address this gap, the current longitudinal study compared four groups of children with different patterns of leisure-time PA engagement—namely children engaging in either structured PA, unstructured PA, a combination of structured and unstructured PA, or no PA at all—with respect to their gross and fine motor skill development. Results of repeated measures mixed modeling procedures revealed that engaging in structured PA—either exclusively or in combination with unstructured PA—is beneficial for children's gross motor development, whereas engaging in unstructured PA lacks such effectiveness. As to fine motor skills, a beneficial tendency of structured PA was observed as well. Hence, PA seems to be beneficial for motor skill development particularly when implemented in a formal setting with guided opportunities for practice. In conclusion, regularly engaging in structured PA constitutes a promising way to promote motor skills and support motor development over the long term

A potential dissociation between perception and production version for bounded but not unbounded number line estimation.

BACKGROUND What, exactly, do number line estimation (NLE) tasks measure? Different versions of the task were observed to have different effects on performance. METHOD We investigated associations between the production (indicating the location) and perception version (indicating the number) of the bounded and unbounded NLE task and their relationship to arithmetic. RESULTS A stronger correlation was observed between the production and perception version of the unbounded than the bounded NLE task, indicating that both versions of the unbounded-but not the bounded-NLE task measure the same construct. Moreover, overall low but significant associations between NLE performance and arithmetic were only observed for the production version of the bounded NLE task. CONCLUSION These results substantiate that the production version of bounded NLE seems to rely on proportion judgment strategies, whereas both unbounded versions and the perception version of the bounded NLE task may rely more on magnitude estimation

Foundations for future math achievement: Early numeracy, home learning environment, and the absence of math anxiety.

BACKGROUND Mathematics achievement is pivotal in shaping children's future prospects. Cognitive skills (numeracy), feelings (anxiety), and the social environment (home learning environment) influence early math development. METHOD A longitudinal study involved 85 children (mean age T1 = 6.4 years; T2 = 7.9) to explore these predictors holistically. Data were collected on early numeracy skills, home learning environment, math anxiety, and their impact on various aspects of math. RESULTS The study found that early numeracy skills, home learning environment, and math anxiety significantly influenced math school achievement. However, they affected written computation, sequences, and comparisons differently. Early numeracy skills strongly predicted overall achievement and comparison subtest performance. CONCLUSION These findings underscore the substantial role of math anxiety and home learning environment in children's math achievement. The study emphasizes the need to consider the selective impacts of these factors in future research, shedding light on the multifaceted nature of mathematics achievement determinants

The effect of video games, exergames and board games on executive functions in kindergarten and 2nd grade: An explorative longitudinal study

We examined the relation between different kinds of play behavior (video games, exergames, board games) in kindergarten (T1) and components of executive function (EF; inhibition, switching, verbal and visuospatial updating) in kindergarten and second grade (T1 and T2). Ninety-seven children participated in this longitudinal study. Parents were asked to complete a questionnaire regarding children's play behavior, reporting frequency, duration, and game type. The results indicate that play behavior is associated with EF development in children; however, only exergames, electronic puzzle games, and board games predicted EF at T2. Additionally, the time spent on electronic games was negatively related to visuospatial updating at T1 but did not predict EF at T2. The results support further investigation of a potential link between board game and exergame play behavior and EF development

The Menstrual Cycle Modulates Whole-Brain Turbulent Dynamics

Brain dynamics have recently been shown to be modulated by rhythmic changes in female sex hormone concentrations across an entire menstrual cycle. However, many questions remain regarding the specific differences in information processing across spacetime between the two main follicular and luteal phases in the menstrual cycle. Using a novel turbulent dynamic framework, we studied whole-brain information processing across spacetime scales (i.e., across long and short distances in the brain) in two open-source, dense-sampled resting-state datasets. A healthy naturally cycling woman in her early twenties was scanned over 30 consecutive days during a naturally occurring menstrual cycle and under a hormonal contraceptive regime. Our results indicated that the luteal phase is characterized by significantly higher information transmission across spatial scales than the follicular phase. Furthermore, we found significant differences in turbulence levels between the two phases in brain regions belonging to the default mode, salience/ventral attention, somatomotor, control, and dorsal attention networks. Finally, we found that changes in estradiol and progesterone concentrations modulate whole-brain turbulent dynamics in long distances. In contrast, we reported no significant differences in information processing measures between the active and placebo phases in the hormonal contraceptive study. Overall, the results demonstrate that the turbulence framework is able to capture differences in whole-brain turbulent dynamics related to ovarian hormones and menstrual cycle stages

Adding up fine motor skills: Developmental relations between manual dexterity and numerical abilities

The strength and development of the relationship between mathematical and motor skills is explored across three age groups of normally developing children. The presence of this relationship is postulated in classical accounts of human development. In contemporary research, the existence of a relationship between motor development and the development of abstract concepts may inform theories of embodied cognition. Existing work supports a link between fine motor skills and various numerical and mathematical tasks in young children; however, few attempts have been made to investigate this relationship across different ages. We use a cross-sectional design to investigate the link between fine motor and mathematical skills in samples of 81–96 Kindergarten, 2nd-grade, and 4th-grade children. Bayesian correlations were performed to explore the relationship between fine motor skills and mathematical skills at different time points. The results show that correlational patterns vary across the three ages: in Kindergarten, manual dexterity of the dominant hand is related to math skills, in 2nd grade, the manual dexterity of the nondominant hand is related to math skills; and finally in 4th grade no such correlations are observable. These findings contribute to understanding the developmental trajectory of the relationship between motor skills and mathematical abilities and the internalization of numerical embodiment. Further investigation is needed to determine if fine motor skills can serve as an early indicator of mathematical skill development risk. Future work could also explore whether incorporating spatial and motor elements into mathematical tasks through whole-body or finger movement training supports the development of mathematical skills

Executive functions, visual-motor coordination, physical fitness and academic achievement: Longitudinal relations in typically developing children

The present longitudinal study included different school readiness factors measured in kindergarten with the aim to predict later academic achievement in second grade. Based on data of N = 134 children, the predictive power of executive functions, visual-motor coordination and physical fitness on later academic achievement was estimated using a latent variable approach. By entering all three predictors simultaneously into the model to predict later academic achievement, significant effects of executive functions and visual-motor coordination on later academic achievement were found. The influence of physical fitness was found to be substantial but indirect via executive functions. The cognitive stimulation hypothesis as well as the automaticity hypothesis are discussed as an explanation for the reported relations.ISSN:0167-9457ISSN:1872-764

Numerical magnitude skills in 6-years-old children: Exploring specific associations with components of executive function

Little is known about how children learn to associate numbers with their corresponding magnitude and about individual characteristics contributing to performance differences on the numerical magnitude tasks within a relatively homogenous sample of 6-year-olds. The present study investigated the relationships between components of executive function and two different numerical magnitude skills in a sample of 162 kindergartners. The Symbolic Number Line was predicted by verbal updating and switching, whereas the Symbolic Magnitude Comparison was predicted by inhibition. Both symbolic tasks were predicted by visuo-spatial updating. Current findings suggest that visuo-spatial updating underlies young children’s retrieval and processing of numbers’ magnitude

Motor skills in kindergarten: Internal structure, cognitive correlates and relationships to background variables

The present study aimed to contribute to the discussion about the relation between motor coordination and executive functions in preschool children. Specifically, the relation between gross and fine motor skills and executive functions as well as the relation to possible background variables (SES, physical activity) were investigated. Based on the data of N = 156 kindergarten children the internal structure of motor skills was investigated and confirmed the theoretically assumed subdivision of gross and fine motor skills. Both, gross and fine motor skills correlated significantly with executive functions, whereas the background variables seemed to have no significant impact on the executive functions and motor skills. Higher order control processes are discussed as an explanation of the relation between executive functions and motor skills

Executive functions, visual-motor coordination, physical fitness and academic achievement: Longitudinal relations in typically developing children

The present longitudinal study included different school readiness factors measured in kindergarten with the aim to predict later academic achievement in second grade. Based on data of N = 134 children, the predictive power of executive functions, visual-motor coordination and physical fitness on later academic achievement was estimated using a latent variable approach. By entering all three predictors simultaneously into the model to predict later academic achievement, significant effects of executive functions and visual-motor coordination on later academic achievement were found. The influence of physical fitness was found to be substantial but indirect via executive functions. The cognitive stimulation hypothesis as well as the automaticity hypothesis are discussed as an explanation for the reported relations