Research suggests that physical activity can be used as an intervention to increase cognitive
function. Yet, there are competing views on the cognitive effects of physical activity and it is not
clear what level of consensus exists among researchers in the field. The purpose of this study was
two-fold: Firstly, to quantify the scientific consensus by focusing on the relationship between physical
activity and cognitive function. Secondly, to investigate if there is a gap between the public’s and
scientists’ interpretations of scientific texts on this topic. A two-phase study was performed by
including 75 scientists in the first phase and 15 non-scientists in the second phase. Participants were
asked to categorize article abstracts in terms of endorsement of the effect of physical acti
