child's obesity,cognitive function linked study finds Essay

Submitted By sho879
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Child’s obesity, Cognitive function linked, study finds I found an article that stated that a University of Illinois study finds that obese children are slower to recognize when they have made an error and correct it. The research is the first to show that weight status not only affects how quickly children react to stimuli, but also impacts the level of activity that occurs in the cerebral cortex during action monitoring. University of Illinois professor of Kinesiology Charles Tillman explained that action monitoring is similar to when your typing, You don’t have to look at the keyboard or the screen to know that you’re made an error because action monitoring is occurring in your brain’s prefrontal cortex. He also stated that action monitoring require people to be computational and conscious at all times as they processed their behavior. They’re linked with success in school and positive life outcomes because this cognitive processes are needed for math and reading. The study used 74 preadolescent children half of them obese, and the other half at a healthy weight. They recorded electroencephalographic activity and asked them to observe fish doing different activities. Then they must press a button once the target fish does an activity other than said activity. Their conclusion was that the healthy weight children were more accurate following an error compared to the obese children. When the task required a greater amount of control the difference was even greater. A second evaluation measured electrical activity in the brain “that occurs at the intersection of thought and