Table 1.

Summary of Findings of Prospective and Experimental Studies Performed to Assess the Chronic Effects of Exercise on Children’s Intelligence, Cognition, and Academic Achievement

Author(s)	n	Sample	Design	Exercise intervention	Duration	Tests	Results
Exercise and children’s intelligence
Corder (1966)	8	12–16 years, MR	R	Balance and coordination	20 days	WISC	Inconclusive
Brown (1967)	40	12 years, MR	R	Strength training	6 weeks	Stanford–Binet	Improvement
Ismail (1967)	142	10–12 years	R	Enhanced school PE	Academic year	Vineland Otis	Improvement No effect
Exercise and cognition
Tuckman and Hinkle (1986)	154	9–12 years	R	Aerobic running	12 weeks	Perceptual-motor	No effect
Hinkle et al. (1993)	42	13–14 years	R	Aerobic running	8 weeks	Creativity Creativity	Improvement Improvement
Zervas et al. (1991)	26	11–14 years	R	Aerobic exercise	6 months	Design matching	Inconclusive
Davis et al. (2007)	30	8–10 years	R	Aerobic exercise	10–15 weeks	CAS: executive Non-executive	Improvement No effect
Exercise and academic achievement
Ismail (1967)	142	10–12 years	R	Enhanced school PE	Academic year	SAAT	Improvement
Shephard et al. (1984)	546	First–sixth grade	NR	Enhanced school PE	Academic year	Class grades	Inconclusive
Dwyer et al. (1983)	~500	Fifth grade	NR	Aerobic exercise	Academic year	ACER GAP	No effect No effect
Sallis et al. (1999)	759	K-fifth grade	NR	Enhanced school PE	Academic year	MAT	Inconclusive
Coe et al. (2006)	214	Sixth grade	R	Enhanced school PE	4 months	TN	No effect

n number of participants, MR mental retardation, R Random assignment, NR Non-random assignment, WISC Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, CAS Cognitive Assessment System, SAAT Stanford Academic Achievement Test, ACER ACER Arithmetic Test Form C, GAP GAP Reading Comprehension Test, MAT Metropolitan Achievement Test, TN Terra Nova Test