心肺功能与小学儿童抑制控制的关系:基于fNIRS的研究

The Relationship between Cardiopulmonary Fitness and Inhibitory Control in Elementary School Children:An fNIRS Study

目的:明确心肺功能与小学儿童抑制控制的关系,比较强心肺功能组和弱心肺功能组儿童脑激活模式的差异,为揭示心肺功能影响儿童抑制控制的神经机制提供实证依据。方法:招募140名7~12岁儿童,采用20 m折返跑测试评估被试的心肺功能,基于被试心肺功能得分将其分成强心肺功能组和弱心肺功能组,然后采用Flanker任务评估被试的抑制控制功能,同时采用8通道功能性近红外脑光谱技术监测其前额叶皮层(PFC)氧信号变化。结果显示:与弱心肺功能组儿童相比,强心肺功能组儿童的Flanker反应时更短,表明任务表现更好;强心肺功能组儿童完成Flanker任务时右侧背外侧前额叶(R-DLPFC)和左侧背外侧前额叶(L-DLPFC)的氧合血红蛋白(oxy-Hb)浓度更高;进一步分析显示,R-DLPFC的激活在心肺功能与抑制控制之间起完全中介作用。结论:心肺功能通过影响R-DLPFC的激活可以增强抑制控制功能。

Objective:To explore the association between cardiorespiratory fitness and inhibitory control in elementary school children,and compare the difference in brain activation patterns between children with high and low cardiovascular fitness groups,so as to provide empirical evidence for revealing the neural mechanisms underlying the inhibitory control of cardiorespiratory function in children.Methods:A total of 140 children aged 7-12 were recruited.They were divided into high and low cardiovascular fitness groups based on the 20-meter shuttle run test.The Flanker task was used to assess the inhibition control of the participants.The 8-channel functional near-infrared spectroscopy was used to monitor the Hemoglobin oxygenation(oxy-Hb)concentration of prefrontal cortex(PFC).Results:Compared to low cardiorespiratory fitness group,children in high cardiorespi-ratory fitness had better task performance,as evidenced by faster reaction time.And high cardiorespiratory fitness group exhibited higher concentrations of oxy-Hb and higher activation in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex(R-DLPFC)and in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex(L-DLPFC)during the Flanker task.Relevant regression analysis showed that the activation of the R-DLPFC plays a fully mediating role between cardiorespiratory fitness and inhibitory control.Conclusion:The activation of the R-DLPFC is influenced by the cardiovascular fitness,which in turn improves inhibitory control function.