The Effect of an Acute Aerobic Exercise with Different Intensities on the Executive Functions of 9-10-year-old Children

Background: It is well-established that executive function can be affected by a session of aerobic training. Our study aimed to determine how acute aerobic exercise affect executive function at different intensities in 9-10-year-old children.Methods: The participants in this quasi-experimental study were 36 children (9.58 years±0.50) in Saqqez, Kurdistan Province, Iran in the first half of 2022. They were randomly assigned into 60% and 80% heart rate reserve (HRR) and a control group. All groups performed the Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Run (PACER) test in the first stage of study to ensure homogeneity. Then, in the pretest- posttest design, inhibitory control and working memory were assessed using the Stroop and N-back tests. During the 15-minute exercise session, participants exercised on a treadmill at different intensities of 60% and 80% of their HRR. One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and paired t-test were employed to analyze between-group and within-group differences in control and intervention groups.Results: According to the results, working memory scores of children improved significantly in 60% and 80% HRR groups (65.44±9.51 vs. 44.69±17.76) compared with the control group (31.00±2.02) (P<0.0001). Different exercise intensities; however, did not show any advantage over a control group in the interference score of correct answers, or reaction time (RT) of inhibition control (60% HRR: 4.08±3.77, 80% HRR: 1.16±3.32, Control: 4.25±3.62, P=0.074), (60% HRR: 52.00±65.91, 80% HRR: 85.66±59.75, Control: 27.16±106.46, P=0.215).Conclusions: The study findings revealed that working memory in pre-adolescents can be improved by a 15-minute session of moderate or high-intensity aerobic exercise. However, there were no significant differences between the groups in terms of inhibitory control.