The Cogni-Action Project: Physical Activity, Brain, and Cognition

NCT03894241 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: CONICYT/FONDECYT 2016/11160703
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 32
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 2

Brief Summary

Education and health are crucial topics for public policies as both largely determine the future wellbeing of the society. Currently, several studies recognize that physical activity (PA) benefits brain health in children. However, most of these studies have not been carried out in developing countries or lack the transference into the education field. The Cogni-Action Project is a crossover-randomized trial. The aim of the study is to determinate the acute effects of three different training sessions consisting in (i) "Moderate-Intensity Continuous Training" (MICT), (ii) "Cooperative High-Intensity Interval Training" (C-HIIT), and (iii) sedentary activity on spontaneous brain activity and neuroelectric indices of cognitive performance during a working memory and a reading task, as measured by electroencephalography (EEG) and eye-tracker. In an energy expenditure counterbalanced fashion, 32 adolescents will randomly undergo each training session , two weeks apart. The main strength of this project is that, to our knowledge, this is the first study analysing the potential influence of PA, sedentarism, and physical fitness on brain structure and function, cognitive performance, and academic achievement in Latin-America and, specifically, in Chile which has been catalogued with an important sociocultural gap. For this purpose, this study will use advanced technologies in neuroimaging (MRI), electrophysiology EEG, and eye-tracking , as well as objective and quality measurements of several physical and cognitive health outcomes.

Conditions

Cognitive Function 1, Social

Keywords

Sedentary lifestyle; academic performance; aerobic fitness; electroencephalogram

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (4)

• Cognitive performance

  The Neurocognitive Performance test (NCPT, Lumos Labs, Inc.) is used to assess cognitive performance. It is a brief, repeatable, web-based platform of cognitive tasks intended to measure functioning across several cognitive domains including: working memory, visuospatial memory, psychomotor speed, fluid and logical reasoning, response inhibition, numerical calculation, and selective and divided attention. The NCPT has demonstrated adequate reliability and validity as a measure of cognitive performance, and in good concordance with pencil-paper assessments. Moreover, verb generation and working memory n-back tasks will be measured during the analysis with magnetic resonance in resting state. Also, reading and working memory n-back tasks will be measured during neuroelectric and eye-tracker measurements

  up to eight months

• Brain structure and function

  Brain structural and functional information will be acquired using neuroimaging techniques. All images will be obtained with a 1.5 Tesla MRI scanner (AVANTO, Siemens Medical Systems, Erlangen, Germany).

  up to eight months

• Neuroelectric measurement

  Electroencephalogram (EEG) measurement: A B-Alert X24 device for EEG (Advanced Brain Monitoring, California, United States) will be used, which consists of 24 active electrodes that minimize the noise of electrical devices outside the biological processes of interest, ensuring good signal quality.

  up to eight months

• Eye-tracker measurement

  Eye-tracker: A Tobii Pro TX300 (Tobii, Stockholm, Sweden) will be used to track eye movements directly through a light sensitive camera near the infrared spectrum.

  up to eight months

Study Arms (3)

Sedentary condition

EXPERIMENTAL

Behavioral: physical activity

Moderate-intensity continuous training

EXPERIMENTAL

Behavioral: physical activity

Cooperative-high-intensity interval training

EXPERIMENTAL

Behavioral: physical activity

Interventions

physical activity BEHAVIORAL

Participants will assist to the three different sessions at the same weekday (e.g., Monday) and at the same daytime to avoid differences in preceding school activities or circadian rhythms. Participants will undergo a "Sedentary condition" (SC), sitting and watching a documentary on TV as has been used previously, and two different PA protocols consisting in "Moderate-Intensity Continuous Training" (MICT), i.e., continuous outdoor walking, and "Cooperative High-Intensity Interval Training" (C-HIIT), composed of a circuit training with a partner (physical education teacher)

Cooperative-high-intensity interval training; Moderate-intensity continuous training; Sedentary condition

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 10 Years - 13 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• boys aged 10-13 year-old
• to have a score \>2 on a 5 point Tanner pubertal timing scale
• normal vision
• not being part of the government's educational integration program (i.e. psychological problems, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, depression, etc.)
• not having any physical problem that is incompatible with intense PA
• not being under psychoactive medications, and vii) to have approved guardians and children's informed consent.

You may not qualify if:

• being part of the government's educational integration program (i.e. psychological problems, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, depression, etc.)
• having any physical problem that is incompatible with intense PA
• being under psychoactive medications, and vii) to have approved guardians and children's informed consent.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso: lead

Study Sites (2)

School of Physical Education, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile

Valparaíso, Región de Valparaíso, Chile

Location

School of Physical Education, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile

Valparaíso, Chile

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Solis-Urra P, Olivares-Arancibia J, Suarez-Cadenas E, Sanchez-Martinez J, Rodriguez-Rodriguez F, Ortega FB, Esteban-Cornejo I, Cadenas-Sanchez C, Castro-Pinero J, Veloz A, Chabert S, Sadarangani KP, Zavala-Crichton JP, Migueles JH, Mora-Gonzalez J, Quiroz-Escobar M, Almonte-Espinoza D, Urzua A, Dragicevic CD, Astudillo A, Mendez-Gassibe E, Riquelme-Uribe D, Azagra MJ, Cristi-Montero C. Study protocol and rationale of the "Cogni-action project" a cross-sectional and randomized controlled trial about physical activity, brain health, cognition, and educational achievement in schoolchildren. BMC Pediatr. 2019 Jul 26;19(1):260. doi: 10.1186/s12887-019-1639-8.

  PMID: 31349791 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Sedentary Behavior

Interventions

Exercise

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Motor Activity; Movement; Musculoskeletal Physiological Phenomena; Musculoskeletal and Neural Physiological Phenomena

Study Officials

• Carlos Cristi-Montero, Ph.D.

  Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor, School of Physical Education, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile

Model Details: The Cogni-Action project presents a two-fold design with a cross-sectional investigation and a crossover-randomized trial. The aim of the first part is to establish the associations of physical activity (PA), sedentarism, and physical fitness with brain structure and function, cognitive performance and academic achievement in 797 Chilean schoolchildren. The aim of the second part is to determinate the acute effects of three different training sessions consisting in (i) "Moderate-Intensity Continuous Training" (MICT), (ii) "Cooperative High-Intensity Interval Training" (C-HIIT), and (iii) sedentary activity on spontaneous brain activity and neuroelectric indices of cognitive performance during a working memory and a reading task, as measured by electroencephalography (EEG) and eye-tracker. In an energy expenditure counterbalanced fashion, 32 adolescents will randomly undergo each training session, two weeks apart.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 25, 2019
• First Posted: March 28, 2019
• Study Start: August 1, 2017
• Primary Completion: October 31, 2019
• Study Completion: October 31, 2019
• Last Updated: November 21, 2023

Record last verified: 2023-11

Locations

CL (2)