Researchers say that physically active kids have better-wired brains for language skills when compared to children with less physical activities.
The researchers say that the study does not prove that the higher fitness level in children affects the electrical activity in the brain. However, physical fitness in children corelates with "better cognitive performance on a variety of tasks."
Charles Hillman, community health professor at the University of Illinois, who led the study, says that there is something different in more highly fit kids when compared with kids with lower fitness levels.
"Now whether that difference is caused by fitness or maybe some third variable that (affects) both fitness and language processing, we don't know yet," says Hillman.
The scientists used electroencephalography (EEG) for the research. Scientists explain that if a person reads a word in a sentence that is logical, the component of the brain waveform which is known as the N400 is less distinct when compared with reading a sentence where words do not make any sense.
"We focused on the N400 because it is associated with the processing of the meaning of a word," says Mark Scudder, a graduate student who assisted Hillman with the research. "And then we also looked at another ERP, the P600, which is associated with the grammatical rules of a sentence."
EEG's give read-outs of wave patterns, and certain patterns are associated with different tasks. These patterns are called "event-related potentials," or ERPs, and are different for each person and the task they are doing, Scudder said.
The study reveals that children who were more physically fit had higher amplitude N400 and P600 waves. The researchers also noted that N400 had less inactivity in children who were more physically fit, which suggests that these children processed information swiftly when compared with children who were less physically fit.
The scientists highlight that the activity of the brain corresponds to superior language skills and reading performances in children who were more physically fit. Scudder also added that higher N400 is normally seen in readers with higher reading skills.
Hillman says that previous studies that have been conducted on children as well as adults have mainly established the effect of increased physical activity in a person's lifestyle and its implications on the health behavior of the brain performance and functions. However, prior studies have not highlighted the co-relation between physical fitness and better language skills in kids.
The author says that more work is needed to understand the results of the study. However, the latest research has found a strong connection between healthy brain functionality and higher physical fitness.
The study's findings were reported in the journal Brain and Cognition.
