healthbriefs
Are Fit Kids Smarter? H
ow important is it that kids engage in physi- cal activity? Very, ac- cording to a recent study published in the journal, Brain Research. Kids that are more physically active tend to have a better- developed brain, which in turn helps them perform better on memory tests. The study involved 49 children, ages 9 and 10, who ran on a tread-
mill to measure their oxygen intake, a standard measure of fitness. Subsequent magnetic resonance imaging data of the children found that the more physically fit kids tended to have a larger hippocampus—about 12 percent bigger, relative to to- tal brain size—than their out-of-shape peers and outperformed them on relational memory tests. The hippocampus is known to be important in learning and memory.
The new findings suggest that interventions to increase childhood physical activity could have an effect on brain development. “We knew that experience and environmental factors and socioeconomic status all impact brain develop- ment,” says Art Kramer, the University of Illinois psychology professor and Beckman Institute director who led the study. “It’s not easy to do something about your economic status, but here’s something that we can do something about.”
Source: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2010
Kids Know What’s Fair D
espite what many grown- ups might think, toddlers have a marked sense of fairness. In a recent study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, 3-year- olds shared a small reward with their peer after they worked together to
earn it, even in situations where it was easy for one child to keep all the spoils.
To learn how youngsters share, the researchers paired children to complete a task for a prize, like gummy bears or colorful stickers, piled on a board with wheels inside a transparent box. If only one child pulled on a rope, the board wouldn’t move, but if both pulled together, they could bring it close enough to reach the prize through windows in the box. Some boxes had only one window, so one child could easily grab the prize and keep it, but the toddlers nearly always shared the reward with their partner. Sometimes, if one child didn’t take their half of the spoils immediately, the other even pointed it out. The insight for all of us: If we cooperate, everyone is
better off.
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Collier/Lee Counties
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