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Exercise improves executive function and achievement and alters brain activation in overweight children: a randomized, controlled trial,”
- Health Psychology,
, 2011
"... Objective: This experiment tested the hypothesis that exercise would improve executive function. Design: Sedentary, overweight 7-to 11-year-old children (N ϭ 171, 56% girls, 61% Black, M Ϯ SD age ϭ 9.3 Ϯ 1.0 years, body mass index [BMI] ϭ 26 Ϯ 4.6 kg/m 2 , BMI z-score ϭ 2.1 Ϯ 0.4) were randomized t ..."
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Objective: This experiment tested the hypothesis that exercise would improve executive function. Design: Sedentary, overweight 7-to 11-year-old children (N ϭ 171, 56% girls, 61% Black, M Ϯ SD age ϭ 9.3 Ϯ 1.0 years, body mass index [BMI] ϭ 26 Ϯ 4.6 kg/m 2 , BMI z-score ϭ 2.1 Ϯ 0.4) were randomized to 13 Ϯ 1.6 weeks of an exercise program (20 or 40 min/day), or a control condition. Main Outcome Measures: Blinded, standardized psychological evaluations (Cognitive Assessment System and Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement III) assessed cognition and academic achievement. Functional MRI measured brain activity during executive function tasks. Results: Intent to treat analysis revealed dose-response benefits of exercise on executive function and mathematics achievement. Preliminary evidence of increased bilateral prefrontal cortex activity and reduced bilateral posterior parietal cortex activity attributable to exercise was also observed. Conclusion: Consistent with results obtained in older adults, a specific improvement on executive function and brain activation changes attributable to exercise were observed. The cognitive and achievement results add evidence of dose-response and extend experimental evidence into childhood. This study provides information on an educational outcome. Besides its importance for maintaining weight and reducing health risks during a childhood obesity epidemic, physical activity may prove to be a simple, important method of enhancing aspects of children's mental functioning that are central to cognitive development. This information may persuade educators to implement vigorous physical activity.
The “Humpty Dumpty Problem ” in the Study of Early Cognitive Development Putting the Infant Back Together Again
"... ABSTRACT—In this article, I propose that the big question for the field of infant cognitive development is best characterized as the “Humpty Dumpty problem”: Now that we have studied cognitive abilities in isolation, how do we put the developing cognitive system (and the infant) back together again? ..."
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ABSTRACT—In this article, I propose that the big question for the field of infant cognitive development is best characterized as the “Humpty Dumpty problem”: Now that we have studied cognitive abilities in isolation, how do we put the developing cognitive system (and the infant) back together again? This problem is significant because cognitive abilities do not occur in isolation. Infants remember the items they have attended to and perceived, and their emotional state will influence their perception and representation of the events they encounter. Moreover, by examining the development of the whole cognitive system, or the whole child, we gain a deeper understanding of mechanisms developmental change. Thus, the big question for the study of infant cognition is like the question confronting all the king’s horses and all the king’s men: How do we put the infant’s cognitive system back together again? The “Humpty Dumpty ” problem, page 3 Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men Couldn't put Humpty together again.
British Journal of Developmental Psychology (2015) © 2015 The British Psychological Society
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Running Head: EFFECT OF ACTION ON CAUSAL PERCEPTION The Effect of Action on Causal Perception in 3- and 4!-month-old Infants
"... Research has shown that infants perceive causality beginning at the age of 6 months. However, a recent study demonstrated that 4!-month-old infants perceive causality when they are given the ability to perform causal actions by wearing red mittens covered in Velcro that attach to Velcro on green toy ..."
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Research has shown that infants perceive causality beginning at the age of 6 months. However, a recent study demonstrated that 4!-month-old infants perceive causality when they are given the ability to perform causal actions by wearing red mittens covered in Velcro that attach to Velcro on green toy balls. The current experiments examined whether the perceptually similarity between the objects infants interacted with and the stimuli used in the test events accounted for infant’s perception of causality in these events. Results show that the particular objects used in the action task do not constrain 4!-month-old infants ’ perception of causality in simple launching events. The data also reveal that 3-month-old infants do not respond to simple launching events in terms of either causality or continuity, following action experience. Results are discussed in terms of the developmental progression of causal perception, as well as possible mechanisms underlying this development. Action and Causality 3 The Effect of Action on Causal Perception in 3- and 4!-month-old Infants Perceiving cause and effect is an essential component of humans ’ understanding
Learning to Move and Moving to Learn Integrating Movement into the Everyday Curriculum to Promote Learning
"... A principal walks by the preschool classroom in her elementary school and hears a great uproar. Concerned, she peers in. She’s not a big fan of play and worries that the children in Mr. Smith’s class are not learning the things that will be assessed next year by the school district. What she sees wh ..."
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A principal walks by the preschool classroom in her elementary school and hears a great uproar. Concerned, she peers in. She’s not a big fan of play and worries that the children in Mr. Smith’s class are not learning the things that will be assessed next year by the school district. What she sees when she looks into the classroom shocks her. Every child is crawling around on the floor in a “crabwalk, ” talking and laughing. The teacher has finally gone too far, the principal thinks. Then she hears Mr. Smith call out, “Seven! ” The children quickly cluster around one of several hula hoops lying around the room. They squeeze together, all trying to place themselves—at least an arm or a leg—into the ring that is marked in the middle with a number seven. “You found it, ” Mr. Smith says. “That’s seven. Let’s try another one.” The children begin to crawl once more as another number is called. The principal quietly moves away, rethinking, just a little, her previous position on play. Teachers, administrators, and parents usually recognize the physical benefits of motor play. What is less obvious is the way that active play promotes learning. In the story above, Mr. Smith is supporting his children’s academic success through play. Engaging his children in movement promotes
© 2010 Head Start Body Start | www.headstartbodystart.orgFrom Playpen to Playground— The Importance of Physical Play for the
"... What you have to do is run real fast up the hill and then down the hill, and if you fall, the wolves will eat you. But they aren’t real wolves, it’s just pretend, so don’t be scared. (A four-year-old child teaching a three-year-old peer how to play.) Decades of research have shown that play is an im ..."
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What you have to do is run real fast up the hill and then down the hill, and if you fall, the wolves will eat you. But they aren’t real wolves, it’s just pretend, so don’t be scared. (A four-year-old child teaching a three-year-old peer how to play.) Decades of research have shown that play is an important mediator in the physical, social, cognitive, and language development of young children (Bergen, 2002; Garvey, 1993; Vygotsky, 1976). In spite of this, play faces many threats in America. The growing emphasis on standards, assessment, and accountability in schools has led to a reduction in outdoor and active physical play. In many schools and centers, play has been all but eliminated to make room for quieter academic learning (Stipek, 2006). Preschools and kindergartens in public school settings have become particularly regimented and adult-directed, with teachers feeling compelled to increase literacy and numeracy instruction at the expense of play time (Golinkoff et. al.2004). Passive television viewing and use of other media also are replacing active play and have even been found to interrupt the play of young infants (Schmidt et. al., 2008; Zimmerman, et. al., 2007). The purpose of this review is to describe and interpret research that examines the effects of physical play, from birth to age five, at home and school, across all areas of development. The document is intended to inform the professional
Brief Familiarization Primes Covert Imitation in 9-month-old Infants
"... Previous research reveals that 9-month-old infants who passively observe an experimenter search repeatedly for a toy in the Piagetian A-not-B error task covertly imitate these actions and manually search incorrectly when the toy is hidden in the B-location. Two experiments tested whether infants wou ..."
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Previous research reveals that 9-month-old infants who passively observe an experimenter search repeatedly for a toy in the Piagetian A-not-B error task covertly imitate these actions and manually search incorrectly when the toy is hidden in the B-location. Two experiments tested whether infants would also search incorrectly if the experimenter was replaced by a pair of mechanical claws or if the experimenter performed less familiar actions. Although infants did not commit the search error when tested directly without any familiarization to the novel actions, a significant majority of infants committed the search error following two minutes of familiarization with the actions performed on the A trials. These results converge to suggest that infants ’ brief experiences with observing actions will facilitate the activation of a corresponding motor representation. Furthermore, the specific process by which this facilitation occurs varies with the similarity between the observed action and its motor representation.
114 Motor Development
"... variety of behavior flexibly tailored to the constraints of the immediate situation (Pfeifer, Lungarella, & Iida, 2007; Stoytchev, 2009). Moreover, infants ’ motor skills improve as their bodies and environments are changing. In contrast to robots, infants learn in the context of continual deve ..."
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variety of behavior flexibly tailored to the constraints of the immediate situation (Pfeifer, Lungarella, & Iida, 2007; Stoytchev, 2009). Moreover, infants ’ motor skills improve as their bodies and environments are changing. In contrast to robots, infants learn in the context of continual development (Berthier, Rosenstein, & Barto, 2005). This chapter is about how children learn the amazing array of motor skills—locomotion, manual skills, facial actions, and exploratory movements—that make them superior to the world’s most sophisticated robots. Chapter Overview In reviewing work on motor development, we aim to interest readers from every area of developmental science. How so? Rather than writing a boutique chapter geared toward researchers who specialize in motor development,
Gesture as a Window onto Communicative Abilities: Implications for Diagnosis and Intervention
"... Health or the National Science Foundation. Nonfinancial Disclosure: Susan Goldin-Meadow has previously published in the subject area. Speakers around the globe gesture when they talk, and young children are no exception. In fact, children’s first foray into communication tends to be through their ha ..."
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Health or the National Science Foundation. Nonfinancial Disclosure: Susan Goldin-Meadow has previously published in the subject area. Speakers around the globe gesture when they talk, and young children are no exception. In fact, children’s first foray into communication tends to be through their hands rather than their mouths. There is now good evidence that children typically express ideas in gesture before they express the same ideas in speech. Moreover, the age at which these ideas are expressed in gesture predicts the age at which the same ideas are first expressed in speech. Gesture thus not only precedes, but also predicts, the onset of linguistic milestones. These facts set the stage for using gesture in two ways in children who are at risk for language delay. First, gesture can be used to identify individuals who are not producing gesture in a timely fashion, and can thus serve as a diagnostic tool for pinpointing subsequent difficulties with spoken language. Second, gesture can facilitate learning, including word learning, and can thus serve as a tool for intervention, one that can be implemented even before a delay in spoken language is detected.
Experimentally-Induced Increases in Early Gesture Lead to Increases in Spoken Vocabulary
"... Disclaimer: This is a version of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to authors and researchers we are providing this version of the accepted manuscript (AM). Copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof will be undertaken on this manuscript bef ..."
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Disclaimer: This is a version of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to authors and researchers we are providing this version of the accepted manuscript (AM). Copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof will be undertaken on this manuscript before final publication of the Version of Record (VoR). During production and pre-press, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal relate to this version also. PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content.
