The effects of an exercise intervention on neuroelectric activity and executive function in children with overweight/obesity: The ActiveBrains randomized controlled trial Mora González, José Rafael Esteban-Cornejo, Irene Solís Urra, Patricio Rodríguez Ayllon, María Cadenas-Sanchez, Cristina Hillman, Charles H. Kramer, Arthur F. Catena Martínez, Andrés Ortega Porcel, Francisco Bartolomé Brain activity Brain function Cognitive function Cognitive performance Physical activity Youth Objective: To investigate whether a 20-week aerobic and resistance exercise program induces changes in brain current density underlying working memory and inhibitory control in children with overweight/obesity. Methods: A total of 67 children (10.00 ± 1.10 years) were randomized into an exercise or control group. Electroencephalography (EEG)-based current density (μA/mm2) was estimated using standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA) during a working memory task (Delayed non-matched- to- sample task, DNMS) and inhibitory control task (Modified flanker task, MFT). In DNMS, participants had to memorize four stimuli (Pokemons) and then select between two of them, one of which had not been previously shown. In MFT, participants had to indicate whether the centered cow (i.e., target) of five faced the right or left. Results: The exercise group had significantly greater increases in brain activation in comparison with the control group during the encoding phase of DNMS, particularly during retention of second stimuli in temporal and frontal areas (peak t = from 3.4 to 3.8, cluster size [k] = from 11 to 39), during the retention of the third stimuli in frontal areas (peak t = from 3.7 to 3.9, k = from 15 to 26), and during the retention of the fourth stimuli in temporal and occipital areas (peak t = from 2.7 to 4.3, k = from 13 to 101). In MFT, the exercise group presented a lower current density change in the middle frontal gyrus (peak t = −4.1, k = 5). No significant change was observed between groups for behavioral performance (p ≥ 0.05). Conclusion: A 20-week exercise program modulates brain activity which might provide a positive influence on working memory and inhibitory control in children with overweight/obesity. 2023-10-09T07:12:03Z 2023-10-09T07:12:03Z 2023 journal article Mora-Gonzalez, J., Esteban-Cornejo, I., Solis-Urra, P., Rodriguez-Ayllon, M., Cadenas-Sanchez, C., Hillman, C. H., Kramer, A. F., Catena, A., & Ortega, F. B. (2023). The effects of an exercise intervention on neuroelectric activity and executive function in children with overweight/obesity: The ActiveBrains randomized controlled trial. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports. https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.14486 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/84904 https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.14486 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ open access Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional Wiley