Hoe buiten spelen de executieve functies van peuters kan versterken

Executieve functies zijn mentale processen die helpen om aandacht en gedrag te reguleren. Deze processen zijn ook belangrijk voor de ontwikkeling van kinderen. In een recente studie in Trends in Neuroscience and Education is gekeken naar het effect van spelen op de executieve functies van peuters. Hiervoor zijn 47 peuters uit twee kleuterscholen in de Verenigde Staten gebruikt als deelnemers. De peuters waren tussen de 3 en 5 jaar oud. De onderzoekers onderzochten de executieve functies van de peuters na een 1 uur binnen spelen en na 1 uur buiten spelen. De onderzoekers concluderen dat buiten spelen een positief effect heeft op de executieve functies van peuters, zoals aandacht en inhibitiecontrole. Dit suggereert dat buiten spelen van belang is om de executieve functies van peuters te versterken en daarmee hun prestaties en gedrag in de klas te verbeteren. 

Het abstract

Background

Children's executive functions develop rapidly during the preschool years and are critical for attending to lessons and meeting classroom expectations. Engaging in periods of outdoor play that have lower regulatory requirements and that provide opportunities for physical activity may help children maintain control over their behavior when they are back in settings with higher regulatory requirements. However, little work has formally examined this proposition in early childhood.

Methods

This study used a quasi-experimental design to examine preschoolers' executive functions following indoor compared to outdoor play. A total of 72 children (mean age = 4.5 years, 46% female, 73% non-Hispanic White) participated in task-based assessments of attention shifting and inhibitory control and in classroom observations of attention and inhibitory control. A subsample of the children (n = 51) was assessed for physical activity using accelerometry to examine the extent to which young children's physical activity during outdoor play predicted their subsequent executive functions better than their physical activity during indoor play.

Results

Children showed greater attention during classroom circle time following outdoor play compared to after indoor play (d = .34). Children's non-sedentary activity during indoor play was not related to their subsequent task-based executive functions but showed negative associations with their subsequent classroom-based executive functions. Children's percentage of time spent in non-sedentary physical activity during outdoor play showed a quadratic association with subsequent task-based inhibitory control but linear associations with subsequent classroom-based attention and inhibitory control during circle time.

Conclusion

Periods of outdoor play that involve recommended amounts of physical activity may help young children engage executive functions when they return to the classroom.