Research Article Effect of Mini-Trampoline Physical Activity on Executive Functions in Preschool Children Xu Wen, 1 Ying Zhang , 2 Zan Gao , 3 Wei Zhao, 2 Jiang Jie, 2 and Li Bao 4 1 Department of Physical Education, College of Education, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China 2 Hangzhou College of Early Childhood Teacher Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Hangzhou, China 3 School of Kinesiology, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, USA 4 Te Second Kindergarten of Cuiyuan, Xihu District, Hangzhou, China Correspondence should be addressed to Ying Zhang; 18258806169@163.com Received 6 January 2018; Revised 18 March 2018; Accepted 5 April 2018; Published 10 May 2018 Academic Editor: Germ´ an Vicente-Rodriguez Copyright © 2018 Xu Wen et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Te study investigated the efect of mini-trampoline physical activity on the development of executive functions (EF) in Chinese preschool children. Fify-seven children aged 3–5 were randomly assigned to an intervention group ( = 29) and a control group ( = 28). Te children in the intervention and control group had the same classes and care service in the preschool, but children in the intervention group had an extra 20 min of trampoline training afer school for 5 school days per week in the 10-week intervention. Spatial confict arrow (SCA), animal Go/NoGo (GNG), working memory span (WMS), and fexible item selection (FIS) were used to assess children’s EF before and afer the intervention. Results revealed that no signifcant diferences emerged in the SCA, GNG, WMS, and FIS tests between two groups postintervention. Findings indicated that a 10-week trampoline PA training may not be sufcient to trigger the improvement of preschool children’s EF. Future research with larger representative samples is warranted to discern the dose-response evidence in enhancing young children’s EF through physical activity. 1. Introduction It was widely accepted that physical activity (PA) plays a key role in the growth and development of children. Te benefts of PA for preschool children may include but are not limited to controlling weight status and blood pressure, developing motor skills, and improving psychological wellbeing [1–4]. Over the past two decades, inspired by the fndings in neuroscience and embodied cognitive science, many studies have been conducted to investigate the efects of PA programs on the cognitive functions in children [5–7]. Most of these studies have favored the positive correlations among PA and cognitive functions. Executive function (EF) refers to the advanced cognitive ability of coordinating and controlling a set of cognitive processes for the attainment of a specifc goal [8]. Te EF of preschool children, which may afect the subsequent development of their academic achievement [9, 10] and social interaction [11, 12], is one of the important components in individual development. Recent studies indicated that PA intervention may exert benefcial efects on children’s EF. Experimental research suggested that both acute and chronic aerobic exercises could efectively improve children’s EF [13]. However, the fndings have yet to be generalized to school or other naturalistic environments as some studies were conducted in laboratory setting [5]. Furthermore, studies also suggested that not all forms of physical activity equally promote EF [13]. It was reported that children in a 4-week foreign language vocabulary program with integrated PA achieved better learning outcomes than children in conven- tional condition [14]. However, a randomized controlled trial (RCT) indicated that the attention and working memory of children were not signifcantly improved following a one school year intervention [15]. Terefore, additional studies are needed to strengthen the evidence base for intervention programs of PA toward the development of EF and related outcomes. Trampoline, a type of gymnastics and also known as “air ballet,” is an athletic sport very popular in Chinese preschool children, which uses acrobatic skills to rebound Hindawi BioMed Research International Volume 2018, Article ID 2712803, 7 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/2712803