Acute Physical Activity and Delayed Attention in Primary School Students

To examine the influence of different types of exertion on
immediate and delayed attention in 116 primary school
children divided in three groups of exertion [cognitive
exertion – CE (school curricular lesson), physical exertion
– PE (traditional physical education lesson), mixed cognitive
and physical exertion – CPE (coordinative physical
education lesson)]. CPE was the combination of physical
load due to the practice of physical exercises and of
cognitive load requested to perform movement-based
problem solving tasks requiring accurate timing, temporal
estimations, temporal production, and spatial adjustments.
Children’s attentional capacity was tested before
(pre) and after (at 0 min and at 50 min post) a CE, a PE,
or a CPE lesson, using the d2-test of attention, and analyzed
using a 3 × 3 × 2 mixed analysis of covariance with
exertion type and time as within factors, gender as
between factor, and baseline data as covariate. Effect sizes
were calculated as partial eta squared (ƞ2). Results
showed that participants’ attentional performance was
significantly affected by exertion type (P < 0.0001), by
time (P < 0.0001) and by exertion type × time interactions
(P < 0.0001). The effect sizes ranged from medium (0.039)
to large (0.437). Varying the type of exertion has different
beneficial influences on the level of attention in school
children.