Journal of Pediatric Perspectives

Current Issue

By Issue

By Author

By Subject

Author Index

Keyword Index

About Journal

Aims and Scope

Editorial Board

Publication Ethics

Indexing and Abstracting

Related Links

FAQ

Peer Review Process

News

Effects of Motor Cognitive and Metacognitive Interventions on Motor and Cognitive Skills of Preschool Children

Document Type : original article

Authors

1 Department of Motor Behavior, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran.

2 Department of Motor Behavior, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.

Abstract

Background: Despite the growing body of research showing the effectiveness of motor interventions for children both physically and cognitively, there is still a lack of sufficient information regarding the effects of different motor programs and finding suitable interventions to improve motor and cognitive skills in early childhood. This study was conducted to investigate and compare the effects of cognitive and metacognitive factors in motor interventions on the motor and cognitive skills of preschool children.
Methods: Sixty-six 6-year-old children (32 girls, 34 boys) participated in this study and were randomly assigned to three experimental groups (motor group (7 girls, 10 boys), motor-cognitive group (8 girls, 8 boys), and motor-metacognitive group (7 girls, 9 boys)) along with a control group (10 girls, 7 boys). The participants in all three experimental groups received a motor program specific to their group for 18 sessions. The Bruininks-Oseretsky test of motor proficiency (BOT-2), the Toulouse-Pieron cancellation test (TP), and the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task (HTKS) were used to collect data. Multivariate repeated measures and multivariate analysis of covariance were used for data analysis.
Results: The findings showed that, compared to the control group, the improvement of cognitive skills in the motor-cognitive group was more than that in the motor and motor-metacognitive groups (p < 0.05). Also, the improvement of motor skills in the motor-metacognitive group was more than that in the motor and motor-cognitive groups (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: According to the results obtained, it seems that if motor interventions are combined with cognitive and metacognitive activities, they can have more cognitive and motor benefits for preschool children.

Keywords

References
  1. Payne VG, Isaacs LD. Human motor development: A lifespan approach. 9th ed: New York: Routledge; 2017.
  2. Loprinzi PD, Davis RE, Fu Y-C. Early motor skill competence as a mediator of child and adult physical activity. Preventive medicine reports. 2015; 2:833-8.
  3. Barnett LM, Webster EK, Hulteen RM, De Meester A, Valentini NC, Lenoir M, Pesce C, Getchell N, Lopes VP, Robinson LE, Brian A, Rodrigues LP. Through the looking glass: A systematic review of longitudinal evidence, providing new insight for motor competence and health. Sports Medicine. 2022; 52(4):875-920.
  4. Schembri R, Quinto A, Aiello F, Pignato S, Sgrò F. The relationship between the practice of physical activity and sport and the level of motor competence in primary school children. Journal of Physical Education and Sport. 2019; 19:1994-8.
  5. Li Q, Wang Q, Xin Z, Gu H. The Impact of Gross Motor Skills on the Development of Emotion Understanding in Children Aged 3–6 Years: The Mediation Role of Executive Functions. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(22):14807.
  6. Gizzonio V, Bazzini MC, Marsella C, Papangelo P, Rizzolatti G, Fabbri‐Destro M. Supporting preschoolers’ cognitive development: Short‐and mid‐term effects of fluid reasoning, visuospatial, and motor training. Child Development. 2022; 93(1):134-49.
  7. Zelazo PD, Carlson SM. The neurodevelopment of executive function skills: Implications for academic achievement gaps. Psychology & Neuroscience. 2020; 13(3):273-98.
  8. Singh R, Pattisapu A, Emery MS. US Physical Activity Guidelines: Current state, impact and future directions. Trends in cardiovascular medicine. 2020; 30(7):407-12.
  9. Koolwijk P, Hoeboer J, Mombarg R, Savelsbergh G, de Vries S. Fundamental movement skill interventions in young children: a systematic review. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology. 2023:1-23.
  10. Engel A, Broderick C, van Doorn N, Hardy L, Ward R, Kwai N, Parmenter B. Effect of a fundamental motor skills intervention on fundamental motor skill and physical activity in a preschool setting: a cluster randomized controlled trial. Pediatric Exercise Science. 2021; 34(2):57-66.
  11. Jane JY, Burnett AF, Sit CH. Motor skill interventions in children with developmental coordination disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation. 2018; 99(10):2076-99.
  12. Jylänki P, Mbay T, Hakkarainen A, Sääkslahti A, Aunio P. The effects of motor skill and physical activity interventions on preschoolers' cognitive and academic skills: A systematic review. Preventive Medicine. 2022; 155:106948.
  13. Shi P, Feng X. Motor skills and cognitive benefits in children and adolescents: Relationship, mechanism and perspectives. Frontiers in Psychology. 2022; 13:1017825.
  14. Dapp LC, Gashaj V, Roebers CM. Physical activity and motor skills in children: A differentiated approach. Psychology of Sport and Exercise. 2021; 54:101916.
  15. Zamani Sani H, Hasanpour V, Fathi Rezaei Z, A G. The effectiveness of cognitive-motor exercises on the motor development of children with autism based on Gentile's two-stage model. Research in Sport Management and Motor Behavior. 2021; 11(21):109-23.
  16. Korkusuz S, Top E. Does the combination of physical activity and attention training affect the motor skills and cognitive activities of individuals with mild intellectual disability? International Journal of Developmental Disabilities. 2023; 69(5):654-62.
  17. Duncan M, Cunningham A, Eyre E. A combined movement and story-telling intervention enhances motor competence and language ability in preschoolers to a greater extent than movement or story-telling alone. European Physical Education Review. 2019; 25(1):221-35.
  18. Schmidt M, Mavilidi MF, Singh A, Englert C. Combining physical and cognitive training to improve kindergarten children’s executive functions: A cluster randomized controlled trial. Contemporary Educational Psychology. 2020; 63:101908.
  19. Vazou S, Mavilidi MF. Cognitively Engaging Physical Activity for Targeting Motor, Cognitive, Social, and Emotional Skills in the Preschool Classroom: The Move for Thought preK-K Program. Frontiers in Psychology. 2021; 12:729272.
  20. Rahe J, Becker J, Fink GR, Kessler J, Kukolja J, Rahn A, Rosen JB, Szabados F, Wirth B, Kalbe E. Cognitive training with and without additional physical activity in healthy older adults: cognitive effects, neurobiological mechanisms, and prediction of training success. Frontiers in aging neuroscience. 2015; 7:187.
  21. Egger F, Conzelmann A, Schmidt M. The effect of acute cognitively engaging physical activity breaks on children's executive functions: Too much of a good thing? Psychology of sport and exercise. 2018; 36:178-86.
  22. Chatzipanteli A, Digelidis N. The influence of metacognitive prompting on students’ performance in a motor skills test in physical education. International Journal of Sports Science and Engineering. 2011; 5(2):93-8.
  23. Chatzipanteli A, Grammatikopoulos V, Gregoriadis A. Development and evaluation of metacognition in early childhood education. Early child development and care. 2014; 184(8):1223-32.
  24. Hosseini M, Mahdian H, Hamidi F. Effectiveness of aerobic, cognitive and metacognitive strategies and simultaneous training on verbal working memory of students with specific learning disability in writing Journal of Analytical-Cognitive Psychology. 2021; 12(45):53-66.
  25. Alimardani A, Shahbazi M, Tahmasebi Boroujeni S, Arab Ameri E. The effect of metacognitive strategies and play at home (UNICEF Proposed Package) on learning fundamental motor skills in children aged 5 to 8 years in the pandemic of Corona disease. Motor Behavior. 2022.
  26. MacIntyre TE, Igou ER, Campbell MJ, Moran AP, Matthews J. Metacognition and action: a new pathway to understanding social and cognitive aspects of expertise in sport. Frontiers in psychology. 2014; 5:1155.
  27. Rahavi Ezabadi R, Sadeghian Shahi MR, Rezaei E. The Effects of Instruction of Learning Strategies and Difficulty of Decision Making on the Accuracy of Forehand TopSpin in Table Tennis. Sport Psychology Studies (ie, motaleat ravanshenasi varzeshi). 2019; 7(26):77-90.
  28. Susaki Y. Self-regulated learning and motor skills: effects of a physical education intervention program on Japanese college students. Journal of Physical Education and Sport. 2021; 21(6):3593-8.
  29. Altan RY, Temel ZF. The Effect of Metacognitive Strategy-Based Geometry Education on Young Childrens’ Metacognitive and Executive Functions Skills. Pegem Journal of Education and Instruction. 2023; 13(2):297-313.
  30. Jones JS, Milton F, Mostazir M, Adlam AR. The academic outcomes of working memory and metacognitive strategy training in children: A double‐blind randomized controlled trial. Developmental science. 2020; 23(4):e12870.
  31. Bayrami M. The effectiveness of self-regulation training on executive functions and reading performance of dyslexic students. Journal of Modern Psychological Researches. 2013; 8(29):43-66.
  32. Bruininks RH, Bruininks BD. Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency: Manual. Pearson Assessments: Circle Pines, MN: AGS Publishing; 2005.
  33. Fathirezaie Z, Abbaspour K, Badicu G, Zamani Sani SH, Nobari H. The effect of environmental contexts on motor proficiency and social maturity of children: An ecological perspective. Children. 2021; 8(2):157.
  34. McClelland MM, Cameron CE, Duncan R, Bowles RP, Acock AC, Miao A, Pratt ME. Predictors of early growth in academic achievement: The head-toes-knees-shoulders task. Frontiers in psychology. 2014; 5:599.
  35. McClelland MM, Cameron CE. Self‐regulation in early childhood: Improving conceptual clarity and developing ecologically valid measures. Child development perspectives. 2012; 6(2):136-42.
  36. Rezaiyan A, Mohammadi E, Fallah PA. Effect of computer game intervention on the attention capacity of mentally retarded children. International journal of nursing practice. 2007; 13(5):284-8.
  37. Homayounnia Firoozjah M, Sheikh M, Hemayattalab R, Shahrbanian S. The environmental approach (affordances) approach to the attention and memory of children with mental disorders. Shenakht Journal of Psychology and Psychiatry. 2019; 6(1):35-48.
  38. Lee J, Zhang T, Chu TL, Gu X, Zhu P. Effects of a fundamental motor skill-based afterschool program on children’s physical and cognitive health outcomes. International journal of environmental research and public health. 2020; 17(3):733.
  39. Eskandarnejad M, Rezaei F. The effect of aerobic exercise on neural networks of attention and working memory. The Neuroscience Journal of Shefaye Khatam. 2018; 6(2):31-40.
  40. Wen X, Zhang Y, Gao Z, Zhao W, Jie J, Bao L. Effect of mini-trampoline physical activity on executive functions in preschool children. BioMed research international. 2018; 2018:2712803.
  41. Diamond A. Close interrelation of motor development and cognitive development and of the cerebellum and prefrontal cortex. Child development. 2000; 71(1):44-56.
  42. Hanakawa T. Rostral premotor cortex as a gateway between motor and cognitive networks. Neuroscience research. 2011; 70(2):144-54.
  43. Schmidt M, Jäger K, Egger F, Roebers CM, Conzelmann A. Cognitively engaging chronic physical activity, but not aerobic exercise, affects executive functions in primary school children: a group-randomized controlled trial. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology. 2015; 37(6):575-91.
  44. Bulten R, Bedard C, Graham JD, Cairney J. Effect of cognitively engaging physical activity on executive functions in children. Frontiers in Psychology. 2022; 13:841192.
  45. Black JE, Isaacs KR, Anderson BJ, Alcantara AA, Greenough WT. Learning causes synaptogenesis, whereas motor activity causes angiogenesis, in the cerebellar cortex of adult rats. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 1990; 87(14):5568-72.
  46. Eskandarnejad M, Rezaei F. The Effect of Physical Activity with Different Levels of Cognitive Load on the Cingulate Cortex's Brain Waves. Motor Behavior. 2020; 12(40):17-36.
  47. Foulkes J, Knowles Z, Fairclough S, Stratton G, O’dwyer M, Ridgers N, Foweather L. Effect of a 6-week active play intervention on fundamental movement skill competence of preschool children: a cluster randomized controlled trial. Perceptual and motor skills. 2017; 124(2):393-412.
  48. Fernandez-Duque D, Baird JA, Posner MI. Executive attention and metacognitive regulation. Consciousness and cognition. 2000; 9(2):288-307.
Journal of Pediatric Perspectives
Volume 12, Issue 1
January 2024
Pages 18484-18500
Files
Share
How to cite
Statistics