Funções executivas e atividade física na infância: uma revisão de literatura

Abstract

Executive functions (EF) are complex mental functions that, together, form a construct of skills related to self-control and independence, and that allow the individual to make decisions and act voluntarily. It has been extensively studied with different audiences, especially in recent years, but children have received special attention due to their important role in child development. The improvement of EF can be favored by extrinsic and intrinsic factors, such as: age, genetics, environment and physical activity. Therefore, this study set out to: observe whether physical activity can influence the improvement of executive functions in children, based on the available literature. The study is characterized as a systematic review of the literature and has a qualitative perspective. To construct the analytical corpus, a search was first carried out on the Google Scholar, Scielo, Lilacs and Portal Periódicos Capes platforms, with the descriptors “executive functions” and “physical activity”, which resulted in 107 articles, of which only five were included. in the study. The articles must meet the following criteria: be indexed in the selected databases, written in Portuguese, Spanish or English, available free of charge, published from 2018 to 2023, addressing the study topic and involving the target audience (neurotypical children), of both sexes. The included articles were separated into thematic categories, and analyzed using the content analysis technique. Of the five (05) articles included, four (04) were of a quantitative nature (one experimental and three observational) and one 01 was of a qualitative nature. In all studies, the results showed a relationship or influence of physical activity, whether acute or chronic, on the EF of children in second childhood. Thus, we were able to conclude that physical activity is an important extrinsic factor for the good development of children's cognitive and executive functions.