Table 5.
Overview of meta-analytic effect sizes.
| n | k | Cohen’s D | Cl-95 % | P -value | I2 | I2 Cl-95%† | fsN | Egger p | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acute effects of physical activity | |||||||||
| Brain structure | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Healthy | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Clinical | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Neurophysiological functioning | 244 | 9 | 0.32 | 0.00 – 0.64 | 0.044 | 37.23 | 0 – 78.06 | 31 | 0.374 |
| Healthy‡ | 146 | 6 | 0.40 | −0.10 – 0.89 | 0.116 | 42.72 | 0 – 88.88 | 11 | 0.343 |
| Clinical (ADHD only)‡ | 58 | 2 | 0.05 | −0.21 – 0.31 | 0.716 | 0.00 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Chronic effects of physical activity | |||||||||
| Brain structure | 197 | 4 | 0.37 | −0.33 – 1.07 | 0.305 | 68.59 | 0 – 72.33 | 1 | 0.812 |
| Healthy | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Clinical | 54 | 3 | 0.43 | −0.79 – 1.65 | 0.492 | 1.78 | 0 – 13.08 | 0 | 0.600 |
| Neurophysiological function* | 629 | 7 | 0.39 | 0.17 – 0.61 | 0.000 | 0.00 | 0 – 69.63 | 32 | 0.186 |
| Healthy* | 598 | 5 | 0.35 | 0.12 – 0.56 | 0.002 | 0.00 | 0 – 78.79 | 15 | 0.552 |
| Clinical | 31 | 2 | 0.94 | 0.19 – 1.69 | 0.014 | 0.00 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| P3 amplitude | |||||||||
| Acute effects* | 175 | 5 | 0.42 | 0.12 - 0.72 | 0.006 | 0.00 | 0 – 78.35 | 21 | 0.910 |
| Healthy* | 101 | 3 | 0.42 | 0.16 - 0.69 | 0.002 | 0.00 | 0 – 76.35 | 4 | 0.457 |
| P3 latency | |||||||||
| Acute effects | 143 | 4 | 0.24 | −0.09 – 0.57 | 0.148 | 0.00 | 0 – 83.81 | 2 | 0.838 |
| Healthy | 69 | 2 | 0.24 | −0.14 – 0.62 | 0.208 | 0.00 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Note. † Negative values were set to zero; ‡ One study with a mixed sample was excluded, because no data were available of the separate groups; *Effects remained significant after excluding the active-state fMRI studies (n = 3); CI, confidence interval; Egger p, p-value Egger Funnel plot; fsN, fail-safe N; k, number of studies; n, number of participants; n/a, not applicable.