Influence Of Flower Ball Cheerleading Exercise On The Executive Function Of Children Aged 7-8

Research Background:Executive function is a kind of high-level cognitive ability that serves the goal.It involves the process of regulating and controlling various resources when completing complex cognitive tasks.It is the key to cognitive activities such as intellectual development,learning,reasoning,and problem solving.It can also affect emotional and social functions.Thus,executive function is of vital importance for the development of various abilities and skills,and for achieving success.Overall,executive function can be divided into three sub-functions,which are cognitive flexibility,inhibitory control,and working memory.The growth of executive function is inseparable from the growth of the frontal lobe,and one of the growth spurts of the frontal lobe occurs when children are around8 years old,which is a critical period for its development.Therefore,it is of great significance to carry out effective interventions for children around 8 years old in primary school to improve their executive function.Flower ball cheerleading is a very ornamental and performative aerobic exercise.It is a comprehensive sports activity that completes various complex hand movements and steps with music,and is coordinated by multiple people or teams.It has the characteristics of being easy to learn,rich in content,easy to popularize,invigorating the spirit,and conveying teamwork culture.With the support of our country’s policies,flower ball cheerleading has a broad mass base and a high popularity rate,and is enthusiastically sought after and loved by primary and middle school students.Previous studies have shown that music combined with moderate-intensity aerobic exercise can more effectively promote the development of executive function.Therefore,it is very important to explore the impact of flower cheerleading on individual executive function.The research on the relationship between the flower ball cheerleading and executive function provides a theoretical basis for exploring more sports that promote children’s brain development and physical fitness,and provides practical guidance for enhancing and improving the executive function of primary school students,thereby promoting the development of physical education in schools of our country.Therefore,the purpose of this study is to explore the influence of the intervention of flower ball cheerleading exercise on the sub-functions of cognitive flexibility,inhibitory control and working memory of executive function in children aged 7-8.Research Method:This study adopted the experimental method as the main research method,and eventually recruited 48 children aged 7-8 in the second grade of Shanghai Jinding School as the research subjects.Among them,24 subjects were assigned as the experimental group,and 24 subjects were assigned as the control group.The experimental group took the teaching courses of "National Campus Cheerleading Demonstration Routine(Primary School Group-Flower Ball)"(i.e.flower ball cheerleading exercise).The control group took the teaching courses stipulated in the syllabus of primary school physical education and health(Grade 1-2)(i.e.regular physical education class).The teaching courses of the two groups lasted for 12 weeks,2 times a week,35 minutes each time.Before and after the teaching courses,subjects took tests to assess their cognitive flexibility,inhibitory control,and working memory(i.e.pretest and posttest).Cognitive flexibility was measured by sorting cards by color and shape using the Dimensional Change Card Sorting tasks.Inhibitory control was measured by judging the consistency of randomly displayed letters using the Flanker tasks for primary school students.Working memory is measured by using the N-back tasks of judging whether a currently displayed number matches a past number.The measurement results take the average correct response time.Research Result:Before the experiment,there were no significant differences between the experimental group and the control group in the average response time of cognitive flexibility,inhibitory control and working memory,indicating that the executive function of the two groups was at the same level before the experiment.(1)In terms of cognitive flexibility,the main effect of time was significant(P<0.01),the main effect of group was significant(P<0.05),and the interaction effect of time and group was also significant(P<0.05).Further analysis showed that the average response time of the posttest in the experimental group was significantly shorter than that of the pretest(P<0.01),while the difference between the pretest and posttest in the control group was not significant.It demonstrates that the flower ball cheerleading exercise can promote cognitive flexibility,while the regular physical education class has no promoting effect.(2)In terms of inhibitory control,the main effect of time was significant(P<0.05),the main effect of group was not significant(P>0.05),and the interaction effect of time and group was not significant(P>0.05).It demonstrates that both flower ball cheerleading exercise and regular physical education class can promote inhibitory control,and there is no difference in effect.(3)In terms of working memory,the results of both 1-back and 2-back test tasks showed that the main effect of time was significant(1-back: P<0.05,2-back: P<0.01),the main effect of group was significant(1-back: P<0.05,2-back: P<0.01),and the interaction effect of time and group was also significant(1-back: P<0.05,2-back:P<0.01).Further analysis showed that the average response time of the posttest in the experimental group was significantly shorter than that of the pretest(1-back: P<0.01,2-back: P<0.001),while the difference between the pretest and posttest in the control group was not significant.It demonstrates that the flower ball cheerleading exercise can promote the working memory,while the regular physical education class does not.Research Conclusion:The flower ball cheerleading exercise has a positive effect on the three sub-functions of executive function in children aged 7-8,and has a more significant positive impact on cognitive flexibility and working memory of children at this stage than the regular physical education class.