Chiao-Ling Hung
Department of Physical Education,National Taiwan Normal University
Yu-Jung Tsai
Department of Physical Education,National Taiwan Normal University
Chung-Ju Huang
Graduate Institute of Sports Pedagogy, University of Taipei
Tsung-Min Hung
Department of Physical Education,National Taiwan Normal University
Considerable research has indicated that exercise is beneficial to physical, cognitive, and emotional health. Recent studies further suggest that physical activity has positive effects on cognitive performance, those related to executive function in particular, in children and elderly population. Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a chronic, high prevalence neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorder that manifests in childhood. The main characteristics of ADHD are inattention and hyperactivity/impulsiveness, with behavioral inhibition considered a core deficit of this disease. A growing body of research has focused on the effects of physical activity on the symptoms and cognitive function of children with ADHD. Moreover, some studies have begun to adopt a neuroscience approach to address this issue. The purposes of this review paper are: First, to review papers that use neuroelectric measurement such as event-related potentials (ERP) for children with ADHD on inhibition control; Second, to review papers that examined the effects of physical activity on symptoms and cognitive function in children with ADHD using cross-sectional studies, acute exercise interventions, and long-term exercise interventions. Additionally, the potential underlying neural mechanisms of the positive effects of physical exercise will be discussed. Third, prospects and recommendations for future research will be provided. Specifically, this paper posits that more rigid research designs are needed to examine issues related to the parameters of exercise prescriptions, broader aspects of cognitive function, and control of confounding variables. Lastly, a combination of behavioral and neuroelectric measurements for understanding underlying neural mechanisms is recommended.
Keywords: cognitive neuroscience, executive function, event-related potentials, inhibitory control