. 2021 Aug 19;3(3):125–133. doi: 10.1016/j.smhs.2021.08.003

Table 2.

Main characteristics of the included studies. MVPA = Moderate to vigorous physical activity, n = number of participants, PA = physical activity.

No.	Study	Participants	Country of origin	PA type	PA duration	Attention subtype	Attention measurement	Main findings
1	Mahar et al. (2006)	n = 243; age 8–11 years; no data on sex	United States	Energizers classroom-based physical activity program	One 10-min activity per school day for 12 weeks	On-task behavior: verbal or motor behavior that followed class rules and was appropriate to the learning situation	Observation of on-task behavior	Significant improvement in on-task behavior of 8% between pre-Energizers and post-Energizers observation
2	Budde et al. (2008)	n = 115; age 13–16 years; 80 boys, 19 girls	Germany	Moderate coordinative exercises	One 10-min activity per school day for 3 weeks	Visual selective and sustained attention	D2-test	Significantly improved d2-performance after coordinative exercises
3	Hill et al. (2010)	n = 1224; age 8–11 years; no data on sex	Scotland, UK	Stretching and aerobic physical exercises (running on the spot, hopping sequences to music)	One 15-min activity per school day for 1 week	Divided attention and shifting attention	Paced serial addition, size ordering, listening span, digit-span backwards, digit-symbol encoding	Significant interaction between intervention and counterbalance group (p < 0.001)
4	Howie et al. (2014)	n = 96; age 9–12 years; no data on sex	United States	Brain BITES (Better Ideas Through Exercise) exercise break intervention	10 min of seated classroom activity vs. 5, 10 or 20 min of classroom exercise breaks	Time-on-task	Direct observation of on-task behavior	Time-on-task was significantly higher in students after 10 min BITES compared to the sedentary attention control (p = 0.004)
5	Janssen et al. (2014)	n = 123; age 10–11 years; 62 boys, 61 girls	The Netherlands	Moderate intensity PA (walking to and from the classroom) or Vigorous intensity PA, (running to and from the classroom)	15 min of either for 4 consecutive days	Selective attention	“Sky Search” subtest of the “Test of Selective Attention in Children”	Attention scores were best after the moderate intensity physical activity break
6	Ma, Le Mare & Gurd (2014)	n = 44; no data on age; 25 boys, 19 girls	Canada	FUNtervals (high-intensity interval activities, including squats, jumping jacks, scissor kicks, jumping, and running on the spot)	20 s of high-intensity activity separated by 10 s of rest repeated 8 times per day for 3 weeks	Off-task behavior	Observation of off-task behavior	Significant reduction of both passive and motor off-task behavior in fourth-graders and of passive, verbal and motor off-task behavior in second-graders
7	Riley et al. (2014)	n = 54; mean age: 10.53 (±0.7) years; 26 girls	Australia	6-weeks EASY-Minds intervention	3-times a school week	Changes in PA and on-task behavior	Accelerometers and direct observation	Children displayed significantly greater on-task behavior (p ≤ 0.03) after the EASY-Minds intervention
8	Carlson et al. (2015)	n = 1322; mean age: 8.8 years (SD: 1.5); 53.7% girls,	United States	Instant Recess TAKE 10! & CATCH, evidence-informed programs	10-min blocks each school day for 1 school year	Student physical activity during school and behavior in the classroom (off task behavior & inattentiveness)	Observation and checklist concerning physical activity during school and behavior in the classroom	MVPA level was negatively associated with students being off task or inattentive in the classroom (β = −0.17; p = 0.042)
9	Gallotta et al. (2015)	n = 116; age 8–11 years; no data on sex	Italy	MVPA physical exertion or a mixed cognitive and physical exertion	50 min, single day intervention	Visual selective and sustained attention	D2-test	Attention was significantly affected by exertion type. The effect sizes ranged from medium (0.039) to large (0.437)
10	Ma, Le Mare & Gurd (2015)	n = 88; age 9–11 years; no data on sex	Canada	FUNtervals	4 min high-intensity interval activities for 3 weeks	Visual selective and sustained attention	D2-test	Students made significant fewer errors during the d2 test following FUNtervals
11	Altenburg, Chinapaw & Singh (2016)	n = 56; age 10–13 years; 30 boys, 26 girls	The Netherlands	(A) sitting all morning working on simulated school tasks; (B) one 20-min physical activity bout after 90 min; and (C) two 20-min physical activity bouts	20 min vs. 40 min	Selective attention	“Sky Search” subtest of the “Test of Selective Attention in Children”	Two 20-min bouts of MVPA led to significantly better Sky Search scores compared to children who performed one physical activity bout or remained seated (B = −0.26; 95% CI = [-0.52; −0.00]).
12	Goh, Hannon, Webster, Podlog, Newton (2016)	n = 210; age 8–12 years; no data on sex	United States	TAKE 10!	10 min, varying in daily frequency for 8 weeks	On-task behavior	Observation of on-task behavior	Significant increase (p = 0.001) in mean percentage on-task behavior from pre-TAKE 10! (82.3 ± 4.5) to post-TAKE 10! (89.5 ± 2.7) during the intervention period
13	Riley et al. (2016)	n = 240; mean age: 11.1 years (SD: .07), 98 girls	Australia	EASY Minds programme	3 times per week for 6 weeks	On-task behavior, mathematics performance and attitude	Observation of on-task behavior and attitude, achievements in mathematical exercise tasks	Improved on-task behavior (p = 0.011), but no improvement in mathematical skills or attitude
14	Schmidt, Benzing, and Kamer (2016)	n = 92; age 11–12 years; 5.7% girls	Switzerland	Physical activity with high cognitive demands or physical activity with low cognitive demands (running at different speeds)	10 min each school day for 3 weeks	Visual selective and sustained attention	D2-R test	No direct PA impact on attention. Changes in positive affect during interventions mediated the effect between cognitive engagement and focused attention as well as between cognitive engagement and processing speed
15	Van den Berg et al. (2016)	n = 184; age 10–13 years; 46% girls	The Netherlands	3 conditions consisted of aerobic, coordination, and strength exercises	10 min for 3 days	Visual selective and sustained attention	D2-Test	Exercising at low to moderate intensity did not have an effect on cognitive parameters, no differential effects of exercise type
16	Wilson, Olds, Lushington, Petkov & Dollman (2016)	n = 58; mean age: 11.2 ± 0.6 years; all boys	Australia	Tag/chasing games or invasion-type games	10 min for 4 weeks	Sustained attention, on-task behavior	Computerised psychomotor vigilance task (PVT) and direct observation of on-task behavior	No significant impact on participants' sustained attention or on-task behavior
17	Szabo-Reed, Willis, Lee, Hillman, Washburn & Donnelly (2017)	n = 633; mean age: 7.6 years (SD = 0.58); 313 boys, 320 girls	United States	MVPA, walking or jogging/running on place	Two 10-min PA lessons/day, 5 days/week for 3 years	On-task behavior	Observation of on-task behavior	Intervention group spent significantly more time on task following PA than the control group. The percent of time spent in MVPA was significantly associated with the percent of time on task (p < 0.01)
18	Buchele Harris, Cortina, Templin, Colabianchi & Chen (2018)	n = 116, no data on age, 59 girls, 57 boys	United States	Repetitive coordinated-bilateral motor movements (e. g. making figure eights by simultaneously pairing arm movements)	6 min each school day for 4 weeks	Visual selective and sustained attention	D2-test	Significant increases in processing speed (F₁ = 6.876, p = 0.010), focused attention (F₁ = 10.688, p = 0.002), concentration performance (F₁ = 26.46, p < 0.001), and attention span (F₁ = 14.090, p < 0.001)
19	Lind et al. (2018)	n = 931; mean age: 11.9 ± 0.0 years; 456 boys, 475 girls	Denmark	“FIFA 11 for Health” for Europe	2 × 45 min per week for 11 weeks	Visual attention and alertness	Cogstate® Brief Battery: detection (DET) & identification (IDN),	Improvement in attention performance and change in mean attention performance was significantly greater for intervention group compared to control
20	Mavilidi et al. (2020)	n = 87; mean age 9.11 ± 0.62 years, 34 girls	Australia	Squats, skipping, jumping jacks, jogging on the spot, etc. Either alone or combined with mathematical content	5 min, 3 times per week for 4 weeks	On-task behavior and learning scores in mathematics	Observation of on-task behavior and attitude, achievements in mathematical exercise tasks	Physical activity breaks with and without integrated mathematics content were effective in improving children's on-task behavior and learning scores.