Eric Drollette - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Eric Drollette

International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology, Jan 19, 2015

The aim of this investigation was to examine the influence of pediatric sport-related concussion ... more The aim of this investigation was to examine the influence of pediatric sport-related concussion on brain and cognitive function. To do so, we used a between-participants design, measures of executive control, and event-related potentials (ERPs). The findings demonstrate that children with a history of concussion exhibit behavioral deficits in attention, working memory and impulse control, as well as neuroelectric alterations in ERP indices of visual attention (N1), conflict resolution (N2) and attentional resource allocation (P3). Furthermore, the age at injury related to the magnitude of several concussion-related deficits. Accordingly, a single sports-related concussive incident during childhood (m=2.1years prior to testing) may lead to subtle, yet pervasive alterations in the behavioral and neural indices of attention and executive control, and age at injury may moderate injury outcomes.

International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience, 2015

Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism, 2015

Further, after adjustment of age, IQ, socioeconomic status, weight status, and aerobic fitness le... more Further, after adjustment of age, IQ, socioeconomic status, weight status, and aerobic fitness level, the proportion of intake comprised of water (%TW) was negatively correlated with reaction time interference, that is, the ability to maintain task performance when task conditions demanded greater inhibition. Conclusions: These results indicate an association between water intake and cognitive control using a task that modulates inhibition. Specifically, higher water intake correlated with greater ability to maintain task performance when inhibitory demands are increased. Future work is needed to determine the mechanism by which water influences cognitive control among children.

Neuroscience, 2015

The association between a fit body and a fit brain in children has led to a rise of behavioral an... more The association between a fit body and a fit brain in children has led to a rise of behavioral and neuroscientific research. Yet, the relation of cardiorespiratory fitness on premotor neurocognitive preparation with early visual processing has received little attention. Here, 41 healthy, lower and higher fit preadolescent children were administered a modified version of the Eriksen flanker task while electroencephalography (EEG) and behavioral measures were recorded. Event-related potentials (ERPs) locked to the stimulus onset with an earlier than usual baseline (À900/ À800 ms) allowed investigation of both the usual post-stimulus (i.e., the P1, N1 and P2) as well as the pre-stimulus ERP components, such as the Bereitschaftspotential (BP) and the prefrontal negativity (pN component). At the behavioral level, aerobic fitness was associated response accuracy, with higher fit children being more accurate than lower fit children. Fitness-related differences selectively emerged at prefrontal brain regions during response preparation, with larger pN amplitude for higher than lower fit children, and at early perceptual stages after stimulus onset, with larger P1 and N1 amplitudes in higher relative to lower fit children. Collectively, the results suggest that the benefits of being aerobically fit appear at the stage of cognitive preparation prior to stimulus presentation and the behavioral response during the performance of a task that challenges cognitive control. Further, it is likely that enhanced activity in prefrontal brain areas may improve cognitive control of visuomotor tasks, allowing for stronger proactive inhibition and larger early allocation of selective attention resources on relevant external stimuli. Ó

Appetite, Jan 9, 2015

Identification of health behaviors and markers of physiological health associated with childhood ... more Identification of health behaviors and markers of physiological health associated with childhood cognitive function has important implications for public health policy targeted toward cognitive health throughout the life span. Although previous studies have shown that aerobic fitness and obesity exert contrasting effects on cognitive flexibility among prepubertal children, the extent to which diet plays a role in cognitive flexibility has received little attention. Accordingly, this study examined associations between saturated fats and cholesterol intake and cognitive flexibility, assessed using a task switching paradigm, among prepubertal children between 7 and 10 years (N = 150). Following adjustment of confounding variables (age, sex, socioeconomic status, IQ, VO2max, and BMI), children consuming diets higher in saturated fats exhibited longer reaction time during the task condition requiring greater amounts of cognitive flexibility. Further, increasing saturated fat intake and ...

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2014

The current study investigated the influence of cardiorespiratory fitness on arithmetic cognition... more The current study investigated the influence of cardiorespiratory fitness on arithmetic cognition in forty 9-10 year old children. Measures included a standardized mathematics achievement test to assess conceptual and computational knowledge, self-reported strategy selection, and an experimental arithmetic verification task (including small and large addition problems), which afforded the measurement of event-related brain potentials (ERPs). No differences in math achievement were observed as a function of fitness level, but all children performed better on math concepts relative to math computation. Higher fit children reported using retrieval more often to solve large arithmetic problems, relative to lower fit children. During the arithmetic verification task, higher fit children exhibited superior performance for large problems, as evidenced by greater d' scores, while all children exhibited decreased accuracy and longer reaction time for large relative to small problems, and incorrect relative to correct solutions. On the electrophysiological level, modulations of early (P1, N170) and late ERP components (P3, N400) were observed as a function of problem size and solution correctness. Higher fit children exhibited selective modulations for N170, P3, and N400 amplitude relative to lower fit children, suggesting that fitness influences symbolic encoding, attentional resource allocation and semantic processing during arithmetic tasks. The current study contributes to the fitness-cognition literature by demonstrating that the benefits of cardiorespiratory fitness extend to arithmetic cognition, which has important implications for the educational environment and the context of learning.

Journal of Nutrition, 2014

Background: Converging evidence now indicates that aerobic fitness and adiposity are key correlat... more Background: Converging evidence now indicates that aerobic fitness and adiposity are key correlates of childhood cognitive function and brain health. However, the evidence relating dietary intake to executive function/cognitive control remains limited.

Developmental Science, 2015

The present investigation examined the sexual dimorphic patterns of cardiorespiratory fitness to ... more The present investigation examined the sexual dimorphic patterns of cardiorespiratory fitness to working memory in preadolescent children (age range: 7.7-10.9). Data were collected in three separate studies (Study 1: n = 97, 42 females; Study 2: n = 95, 45 females; Study 3: n = 84, 37 females). All participants completed a cardiorespiratory fitness assessment in addition to a specific measure of working memory (i.e. the operation span task, the n-back task, or the Sternberg task). Results from all three samples revealed that higher cardiorespiratory fitness levels were associated with better working memory performance only for males with no such relation observed for females. In addition, the sexually dimorphic pattern was selective for the most challenging working memory conditions in each task. Together, these findings reveal new evidence that cardiorespiratory fitness is selectively related to better working memory performance for male children. This investigation provides additional insight into how interventions aimed at improving fitness may influence cognitive development differentially among preadolescent children.

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 2014

The present study examined the effects of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise on aspects of cogni... more The present study examined the effects of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise on aspects of cognitive control in two groups of children categorized by higher- and lower-task performance. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were collected in 40 preadolescent children during a modified flanker task following 20 min of treadmill walking and seated rest on separate occasions. Participants were bifurcated into two groups based on task performance following the resting session. Findings revealed that following exercise, higher-performers maintained accuracy and exhibited no change in P3 amplitude compared to seated rest. Lower-performers demonstrated a differential effect, such that accuracy measures improved, and P3 amplitude increased following exercise. Lastly, both groups displayed smaller N2 amplitude and shorter P3 latency following exercise, suggesting an overall facilitation in response conflict and the speed of stimulus classification. The current findings replicate prior research reporting the beneficial influence of acute aerobic exercise on cognitive performance in children. However, children with lower inhibitory control capacity may benefit the most from single bouts of exercise. These data are among the first to demonstrate the differential effect of physical activity on individuals who vary in inhibitory control, and further support the role of aerobic exercise for brain health during development.

Health Psychology, 2014

To investigate the relationship between cognitive control and metabolic syndrome (MetS) risk fact... more To investigate the relationship between cognitive control and metabolic syndrome (MetS) risk factors in preadolescent children while controlling for aerobic fitness and weight status. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted using aerobic fitness, demographic, and MetS risk-factor variables in a sample of 2nd- and 3rd-grade children (n = 139) who performed a modified version of a flanker task to assess cognitive control. Flanker performance was also compared between children that met no MetS risk-factor criteria (n = 70), and children who met 1 criterion or more (n = 69). Regression analyses indicated that after controlling for demographic variables and fitness, HDL cholesterol exhibited an independent negative association with flanker reaction time (RT). Group comparisons further revealed that children with no risk factors demonstrated overall shorter RT than the at-risk group. In addition, at-risk children exhibited larger accuracy-interference scores (i.e., poorer performance) for the more difficult conditions of the flanker task that required the up-regulation of cognitive control to meet elevated task demands. These findings are consonant with the previous literature reporting a beneficial influence of aerobic fitness on cognitive control, and reveal new evidence that children without risk factors for MetS exhibit better inhibitory control and increased cognitive flexibility than do at-risk children. In addition to aerobic fitness, these risk factors may serve as important biomarkers for understanding the potential cognitive implications of MetS risk in younger generations.

Pediatrics, 2014

To assess the effect of a physical activity (PA) intervention on brain and behavioral indices of ... more To assess the effect of a physical activity (PA) intervention on brain and behavioral indices of executive control in preadolescent children. Two hundred twenty-one children (7-9 years) were randomly assigned to a 9-month afterschool PA program or a wait-list control. In addition to changes in fitness (maximal oxygen consumption), electrical activity in the brain (P3-ERP) and behavioral measures (accuracy, reaction time) of executive control were collected by using tasks that modulated attentional inhibition and cognitive flexibility. Fitness improved more among intervention participants from pretest to posttest compared with the wait-list control (1.3 mL/kg per minute, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.3 to 2.4; d = 0.34 for group difference in pre-to-post change score). Intervention participants exhibited greater improvements from pretest to posttest in inhibition (3.2%, 95% CI: 0.0 to 6.5; d = 0.27) and cognitive flexibility (4.8%, 95% CI: 1.1 to 8.4; d = 0.35 for group difference ...

The Journal of pediatrics, 2015

To assess associations between adiposity and hippocampal-dependent and hippocampal-independent me... more To assess associations between adiposity and hippocampal-dependent and hippocampal-independent memory forms among prepubertal children. Prepubertal children (age 7-9 years; n = 126), classified as non-overweight (<85th percentile body mass index [BMI]-for-age [n = 73]) or overweight/obese (≥85th percentile BMI-for-age [n = 53]), completed relational (hippocampal-dependent) and item (hippocampal-independent) memory tasks. Performance was assessed with both direct (behavioral accuracy) and indirect (preferential disproportionate viewing [PDV]) measures. Adiposity (ie, percent whole-body fat mass, subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue, visceral adipose tissue, and total abdominal adipose tissue) was assessed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Backward regression identified significant (P < .05) predictive models of memory performance. Covariates included age, sex, pubertal timing, socioeconomic status (SES), IQ, oxygen consumption, and BMI z-score. Among overweight/obese childr...

Psychophysiology, 2012

To examine whether childhood obesity is associated with inhibitory control, we compared healthy w... more To examine whether childhood obesity is associated with inhibitory control, we compared healthy weight and obese preadolescent children's task performance along with the N2 and P3 components during a Go/NoGo task. Results indicated that obese children exhibited lower response accuracy relative to healthy weight children during the NoGo task requiring greater amounts of inhibitory control, whereas no such difference was observed during the Go task. Neuroelectric data indicated that healthy weight children exhibited a more frontal distribution for the NoGo P3 relative to the Go P3, whereas obese children had similar topographic distributions between the Go P3 and NoGo P3. Further, obese children had larger NoGo N2 amplitude relative to the Go N2, whereas this difference was not observed for healthy weight children. These findings suggest that childhood obesity is negatively and selectively associated with prefrontal inhibitory control.

Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 2012

Preventive Medicine, 2011

5 6 a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o 7 8 Available online xxxx 9 10 11 12 Keywords: 13 Physi... more 5 6 a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o 7 8 Available online xxxx 9 10 11 12 Keywords: 13 Physical activity 14 Physical fitness 15 Target heart rate 16 Stroop 17 Trails 18 Executive function 19

Obesity, 2012

Adiposity may be negatively associated with cognitive function in children. However, the findings... more Adiposity may be negatively associated with cognitive function in children. However, the findings remain controversial, in part due to the multifaceted nature of cognition and perhaps the lack of accurate assessment of adiposity. The aim of this study was to clarify the relation of weight status to cognition in preadolescent children using a comprehensive assessment of cognitive control, academic achievement, and measures of adiposity. Preadolescent children between 7 and 9 years (n = 126) completed Go and NoGo tasks, as well as the Wide Range Achievement Test 3rd edition (WRAT3), which measures achievement in reading, spelling, and arithmetic. In addition to body mass index (BMI), fat mass was measured using dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Data were analyzed with multiple regression analysis, controlling for confounding variables. Analyses revealed that BMI and fat mass measured via DXA were negatively associated with cognitive control, as children with higher BMI and fat mass exhibited poorer performance on the NoGo task requiring extensive amounts of inhibitory control. By contrast, no relation of weight status to performance was observed for the Go task requiring smaller amounts of cognitive control. Higher BMI and fat mass were also associated with lower academic achievement scores assessed on the WRAT3. These data suggest that adiposity is negatively and selectively associated with cognitive control in preadolescent children. Given that cognitive control has been implicated in academic achievement, the present study provides an empirical basis for the negative relationship between adiposity and scholastic performance.

Neuropsychology, 2012

With the growing trend toward engagement in sedentary behaviors during childhood, a greater under... more With the growing trend toward engagement in sedentary behaviors during childhood, a greater understanding of the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and cognition during development is of increasing importance. Objective: The aim of this investigation was to assess the extent to which failures in sustained attention may underlie deficits in cognition associated with poorer aerobic fitness. Method: A sample of 62 preadolescent children between the ages of 9 and 10 years were separated into higherand lower-fit groups according to their cardiorespiratory fitness. Results: Findings indicated that lower-fit children exhibited poorer overall response accuracy during a task requiring aspects of cognitive control relative to their higher-fit counterparts, with a disproportionately greater number of errors of omission, and longer, more frequent sequential errors of omission. Conclusions: These findings suggest that poorer vigilance may contribute to deficits in cognitive control associated with poorer aerobic fitness.