Do preschool motor skills travel with executive function?
In 394 four-year-olds, TGMD-2 motor scores correlated with NIH Toolbox executive function (r = 0.33); locomotor skills predicted inhibition, working memory, and flexibility, while object control predicted only inhibition.
Source
Association between fundamental motor skills and executive function in preschool children: A cross-sectional study
Study at a glance
- Design
- Cross-sectional — Preschool FMS (TGMD-2) and EF (NIH Toolbox) with OLS regressions controlling age, sex, BMI, and setting
- N
- N=394 · 394 healthy preschoolers; 182 girls (46.2%) and 212 boys (53.8%); mean age 4.07 ± 0.76 years
- Population
- Preschool children assessed in kindergarten settings (Beijing-area authoring team)
- Outcome
- Total and subscale FMS (locomotor, object control) and EF (inhibition, working memory, cognitive flexibility)
Structured fields used in claim comparison tables when every cited study has a complete layer.
What they did
Tested 394 kindergarten children (4.07 ± 0.76 years; 212 boys) with TGMD-2 (FMS) and the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery (EF). Used correlations and OLS models controlling age, sex, BMI, and setting.
What they found
Total FMS moderately related to total EF (r = 0.33, p < 0.001) and predicted EF (β = 0.37). Locomotor skills predicted inhibition (β = 0.21), working memory (β = 0.18), and cognitive flexibility (β = 0.24); object control predicted only inhibition (β = 0.17).
The limits
What it doesn't show
A cross-sectional kindergarten sample cannot prove that motor training raises EF, only that the two domains co-occur after covariate control.
Key terms
- FMS
- Fundamental motor skills: locomotor plus object-control patterns.
- TGMD-2
- Test of Gross Motor Development-2 used to score FMS.
- NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery
- NTCB tasks indexing inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility.
- Locomotor skills
- Moving the body through space (run, hop, jump); predicted all three EF facets.
- Object control
- Ball skills; predicted inhibition only.
- Executive function
- Higher-order control processes measured here as inhibition, working memory, and flexibility.
Flashcards
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Quiz yourself
How many preschoolers?
Common questions
How many children?
394 (mean age 4.07 years).
FMS–EF correlation?
r = 0.33, p < 0.001.
Which FMS facet predicted all EF parts?
Locomotor skills.
What did object control predict?
Inhibition control only (β = 0.17).
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