Impacts of coordinative training on normal weight and overweight/obese children’s attentional performance Authors: Manuscript ID: 124253 Edited by: John J Foxe

This study investigated the efficacy of a physical activity (PA) program to improve the
attention span in normal weight vs. overweight/obese children. The study was designed
as a cluster-randomized controlled intervention. One hundred fifty-seven normal weight
and overweight/obese primary school children were randomly divided in three cohorts:
Traditional PA, Coordinative PA and a Control group (not attending any PA). Before and
after 5 months of intervention, children were administered the d2-R test of attention.
Results showed that participants’ attentional performances were significantly affected by
Time (pre vs. post; P < 0.01) and by Time Group interaction (traditional vs. coordinative
vs. control; P < 0.001), revealing significant different effects of intervention/exercise
modality on children’s attentional performance, independently of their weight status.
These data suggest that a 5-month school-based PA intervention can improve the
cognitive performance in children. Further, the Coordinative PA intervention resulted in
the most significant improvement in children’s attention.