Brain Mechanism Of Extracurricular Volleyball Training Improving Inhibitory Control And Cognitive Flexibility Executive Function In Children Aged 7-12 Years

Objective:Childhood is a period of rapid physical development and an important time for cognitive development and brain development.There are numerous factors that influence cognitive and brain function development in children at this stage,and aerobic exercise is one of the important factors.Many studies have shown that exercise could improve executive function of children.However,only a few studies have assessed executive function using a variety of cognitive measures.And most studies have not evaluated it extensively.Moreover,current studies are limited to laboratory studies,which have poor ecological validity and are difficult to generalize to real-world contexts.Therefore,the current study used functional near infrared spectroscopy（f NIRS）combined with cognitive tasks to explore the effects of 12 weeks of volleyball training on executive function of children aged 7-12 years,compare the activation of the prefrontal cortex during the cognitive tasks of the experimental group and control group.And the study will explore the neural mechanisms by which volleyball training interventions affect executive function of children.Methods:Children aged 7-12 years were selected as subjects and randomly divided into experimental intervention group and control group.The intervention group performed extracurricular volleyball aerobic exercise for 60 minutes three times a week for 12 weeks.And the control group performed daily life.The subjects’executive functions were measured using Flanker and More-odd shifting cognitive tasks before and after the intervention.And f NIRS was used to monitor changes in prefrontal oxyhemoglobin（oxy-Hb）concentrations during the cognitive tasks.Results:（1）Behavioral results:Compared to the control group,after a 12-week volleyball aerobic exercise intervention,children of the experimental group had lower reaction times to complete the Flanker task and More-odd shifting task[F_（1,74）=18.420,p<0.001;F_（1,74）=13.483,p<0.001]and higher correctness rates[F_（1,74）=15.00,p<0.001;F_（1,74）=21.909,p<0.001];（2）f NIRS results:Compared to the control group,children of the experimental group completed the Flanker task and More-odd shifting task with higher oxy-Hb concentrations and better brain activation[F_（1,74）=6.216,p<0.05;F_（1,74）=5.402,p<0.05];（3）correlation of behavioral outcomes with f NIRS results:increased prefrontal oxy-Hb concentrations induced by volleyball aerobic exercise were significantly correlated with decreased responses during the Flanker task and More-odd shifting task[χ²=7.714,p<0.01;χ²=4.645,p<0.05],and also significantly correlated with increased correctness during the Flanker task and More-odd shifting task[χ²=4.645,p=0.029<0.05;χ²=5.121,p=0.035<0.05].Conclusion:（1）Extracurricular volleyball training is an effective way to improve children’s cardiorespiratory fitness;（2）Extracurricular volleyball training improves children’s executive functions（inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility）by enhancing activation of the prefrontal cortex.