Study: Brain Signals Link Fit Kids to Better Language Skills

Children who are physically fit have faster and more robust neuro-electrical brain responses during reading than their less-fit peers, researchers report. The study, recently reported in Brain and Cognition, does not prove that higher fitness directly influences the changes seen in the electrical activity of the brain, the researchers say, but offers a potential mechanism to explain why fitness correlates so closely with better cognitive performance on a variety of tasks. Using electroencephalography, the researchers found that children who were more fit (as measured by oxygen uptake during exercise) had higher amplitude N400 and P600 waves than their less-fit peers when reading normal or nonsensical sentences. The N400 also had shorter latency in children who were more fit, suggesting that they processed the same information more quickly than their peers. Most importantly, the researchers said, these differences in brain activity corresponded to better reading performance and language comprehension in the children who were more fit. To learn more about the study, click here.