Cognition and Motor Activity in Childhood Correlation and Causation.

Abstract

The topic of motor activity and cognition describes a transdisciplinary research area. Paediatricians, psychologists, sociologist, philosophers, sport scientists, to name only a few, are involved in this research. They all have a different perspective on correlation and causation in terms of cognition and motor activity and this is a very promising opportunity to accumulate new knowledge. Scientific studies on the connection between motor abilities and cognition have shown different results in the past: from the claim of "no connections" between motor abilities and cognition (e.g. Matsuda & Sugihara, 1973) and "partial connections" (e.g. Schilling, 1973; Dickes, 1975; Krombholz, 1988) to "significant connections" between motor function and cognition (e.g. Scherrer, 2000; Ahnert, Bös & Schneider, 2003; Graf, 2003; Voelcker-Rehage, 2005). There is a tendency towards the last statement in recent scientific studies. The theories to explain the issue of correlation and causation in terms of cognition and motor activity have changed. During the first research peak in the 1970s, learning and developmental theories were focussed on, whereas in the 21st century, new technologies mainly in the field of neuropsychology explain connections between motor activity and cognition by physiological mechanisms.