Entry
Reader's guide
Entries A-Z
Subject index
Cognitive Function
Cognitive function refers to the mental process of knowing or thinking. It involves all aspects of mental processes that enable individuals to perceive, recognize, process, and understand thoughts. Specifically, cognitive function involves processes such as action, attention, memory, learning, reasoning, planning, problem solving, decision making, and communication. These cognitive functions are not only important to daily life but are also recognized as main components in health-related quality of life.
Cognition: A Lifespan Spectrum
Although the major brain areas that are the core resource of cognition are set at birth, along with emerging and forming networks of brain cells, cognition and intelligence continuously develop throughout childhood, adolescence, and into young adulthood, thereafter declining gradually after adulthood. For example, with the exception of vocabulary, multiple cognitive functions, including the speed of information processing, reasoning, and memory, peak at 20 years of age and then decline linearly until the age of 70 years. Generally, compared to the entire population, an individual's cognitive function at 20 years is above the 75th percentile, at 50 years it is near the 50th percentile, and at 70 years, it is in approximately the 20th percentile. This decline of cognitive function is linked to cognitive impairment in later life, such as dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
As one can easily notice, the rate of cognitive development during early life and cognitive decline later in life exhibit marked interindividual variability. Environmental factors and an individual's experiences, including physical activity, intellectual engagement, social interaction, nutrition, and self-confidence, can positively influence these cognitive changes. Participation in physical activity is particularly emphasized in both lifespan phases by numerous social and health institutions and organizations, because increased physical activity has been related to multiple benefits affecting physical and mental health in children and older adults.
Physical Activity and Cognition: Different Perspectives
Early and Large-Scale Observational Studies
Physical activity and cognition were first investigated by Waneen Spirduso, Karen Francis, and Priscilla MacRae in the 1970s. While the researchers found that older adults demonstrated a longer reaction time of information processing in response to several cognitive tasks compared with younger adults, they also found that both older and younger adults showed differences based on participation in sports. The older adults who participated in sports regularly not only had a greatly increased cognitive speed compared to older sedentary adults, but also had similar cognitive performances as young sedentary adults, suggesting that participation in sports positively moderated the age-related cognitive decline.
The positive associations between physical activity and cognitive performance have also been shown in large-scale epidemiological studies. Generally, studies of older adults based on retrospective reports of physical activity have suggested protective effects against cognitive decline and cognitive impairment. However, these subjective measurements of physical activity are somewhat imprecise, and information regarding the modality, intensity, frequency, duration, and length of participation in physical activity is often deficient.
A study focusing on physical fitness, rather than physical activity, which involved approximately 900,000 California schoolchildren, demonstrated that increased physical fitness was significantly positively associated with enhanced reading and mathematics scores, regardless of gender and grade. Although a cause–effect relationship cannot be established from observational studies, the positive correlation between physical activity and cognition is promising.
...
- Career Transition
- Certification, Credentialing, and Roles of Sport and Exercise Psychologists
- Disability
- Emotion
- Exercise Health
- Addiction, Effects of Exercise on
- Adherence
- Affective Responses to Exercise
- Attentional Association and Dissociation
- Cognitive Function
- Ecological Theory
- Effort
- Emotional Responses
- Energy, Effects of Exercise on
- Enjoyment, as Mediator of Exercise Behavior Change
- Exercise Dependence
- Fatigue
- Health Promotion
- Hedonic Theory
- Interventions for Exercise and Physical Activity
- Mental Health
- Multiple Behavior Change
- Obesity
- Personality Traits and Exercise
- Pleasure
- Quality of Life
- Resistance Training
- Runner's High
- Sedentary Behavior
- Sleep and Exercise
- Social Marketing and Message Framing
- Group Dynamics
- History and Foundation
- Leadership
- Athlete Leadership
- Attachment Theory and Coaching
- Autonomy-Supportive Coaching
- Coaching Efficacy
- Decision-Making Styles in Coaching
- Interdependence Theory and the Coach–Athlete Relationship
- Leadership in Sport: Multidimensional Model
- Leadership in Sport: Situational and Contingency Approaches
- Leadership in Sport: Social Cognitive Approaches
- Leadership in Sport: Trait Perspectives
- Leadership in Sport: Transactional and Transformational
- Relational Efficacy Beliefs in Coach–Athlete Relations
- Morality, Aggression, and Ethics in Sport
- Motivation
- Achievement Goal Theory
- Achievement Motive Theory
- Attribution Theory
- Automaticity: Evaluative Priming
- Automaticity: Implicit Attitudes
- CALO-RE Taxonomy of Behavior Change Techniques
- Commitment
- Competence Motivation Theory
- Control Theory
- Dual-Process Theory
- Expectancy-Value Theory
- Habit
- Health Action Process Approach
- Health Belief Model
- Implicit/Self-Theories of Ability
- Intrinsic/Extrinsic Motivation, Hierarchical Model of
- Mastery and Control Beliefs
- Passion
- Protection Motivation Theory
- Reinforcement and Punishment
- Self-Determination Theory
- Social Cognitive Theory
- Strength Model of Self-Control
- Theory of Planned Behavior
- Transformational Parenting
- Transtheoretical Model
- Motor Control
- Coordination
- Errors
- Feedback
- Generalized Motor Program
- Human Factors
- Interference
- Laws of Movement Learning and Control
- Modeling
- Motor Commands
- Motor Control
- Motor Development
- Motor Learning
- Movement
- Neurologic Disorders
- Practice
- Response
- Retention
- Sensory Systems: Auditory, Tactile, Proprioceptive
- Skill Acquisition
- Task Constraints
- Timing
- Transfer
- Perception and Cognition in Sport
- Anticipation
- Attention Theory
- Attention–Performance Relationships
- Attentional Focus
- Automaticity
- Brain Imaging
- Choking
- Chunking/Dechunking
- Cognitive Capabilities
- Cognitive Styles
- Cognitive Task Analysis
- Concentration
- Cue Utilization
- Decision Making
- Developmental Histories
- Dual-Task Paradigm
- Dynamical Systems
- Especial Skills
- Expertise
- Eye Movements/Gaze
- Freezing
- Functional Variability
- Genetics/Nature–Nurture Determinants
- Information Processing
- Knowledge Structure
- Learning
- Memory
- Pattern Recognition and Recall
- Perception
- Priming
- Probabilities
- Recognition and Recall Paradigms
- Self-Awareness Theory
- Sensorimotor Representations
- Situational Awareness
- Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
- Verbal Protocols
- Vision
- Personality and Psychological Characteristics in Sport
- Psychobiology
- Affective Disorders
- Alcohol Abuse
- Autonomic Nervous System
- Biofeedback, Neurofeedback
- Biopsychosocial Model of Injury
- Brain
- Burnout
- Cardiac Function
- Developmental Considerations
- Diet Drugs
- Drug Use and Control
- Eating Disorders
- Electroencephalograph (EEG)
- Electromyography (EMG)
- Emotional Reactivity
- Female Athlete Triad
- Individual Response Stereotype
- Injury, Psychological Susceptibility to
- Injury, Return to Competition Following
- Limbic System
- Mirror Neurons
- Narcotic Analgesics
- Neuroscience, Exercise, and Cognitive Function
- Overtraining Syndrome
- Performance-Enhancing Drugs
- Psychological Consequences of Sport Injury
- Psychological Well-Being
- Psychopharmacology
- Psychophysiology
- Recreational Drugs
- Resilience
- Sex Differences
- Social Neuroscience
- Stress Reactivity
- Underrecovery Syndrome
- Yips
- Psychosociocultural Considerations
- Self-Concept, Self-Perceptions, and Identity
- Body Awareness
- Body Dissatisfaction
- Body Dysmorphic Disorder, Muscle Dysmorphia
- Body Image
- Body Self-Esteem
- Hierarchical Self
- Identity
- Possible Selves
- Self-Acceptance
- Self-Appraisal/Assessment/Perception
- Self-Awareness
- Self-Compassion
- Self-Construal
- Self-Criticism
- Self-Discrepancy
- Self-Doubt
- Self-Efficacy
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
- Self-Handicapping
- Self-Monitoring
- Self-Objectification
- Self-Presentation
- Self-Schema
- Social Comparison
- Youth Sport
- Loading...
Get a 30 day FREE TRIAL
-
Watch videos from a variety of sources bringing classroom topics to life -
Read modern, diverse business cases
-
Explore hundreds of books and reference titles
Read next
More like this
Sage Recommends
We found other relevant content for you on other Sage platforms.
Have you created a personal profile? Login or create a profile so that you can save clips, playlists and searches