

Predicting academic achievement with cognitive ability. Predicting school achievement from general cognitive ability, self-perceived ability, and intrinsic value.

The development of cognitive skills and gains in academic school readiness for children from low-income families. We derive sex-specific recommendations on how cognitive benefits can be optimized by exercise intensity, its progression and exercise type. Our findings suggest a general rather than domain-specific effect of exercise on cognition, which is influenced by sex, exercise type and reciprocal relationships between dose parameters. Exercise was less effective in female compared with male individuals, and the dose–response relationship differed between sexes. With longer intervention length, the effect size increased with longer session duration. Higher benefits of exercise on cognitive function were found after coordinative exercise compared with other exercise types. The summary effect was small and did not differ between cognitive domains. Our meta-regression included 80 randomized controlled trials and examined moderators of the effects of exercise on cognition in healthy individuals. As cognitive function is linked with academic achievement, career success and mental health, there is a need to understand how the cognitive benefits of long-term exercise can be optimized.
