Peer-reviewed article
The Complexity of Motor Skills Could be Positively Associated With Cognitive Development in Zambian Preschool Children.
Malambo C, Chungu S, Provazník A, Menon JA, Bob P et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study explored whether motor skills are linked to cognitive development in Zambian preschool children, a question that has been extensively studied in wealthy Western countries but rarely in sub-Saharan Africa. Researchers tested 56 children aged 3-6 years in Lusaka, measuring their physical abilities like jumping and running alongside cognitive skills like attention and visual processing. The study found some suggestive patterns, particularly between running speed and attention skills, but these did not hold up when corrected for multiple statistical tests. The authors emphasize their findings are preliminary and call for larger, longer-term studies that account for nutrition, family education, and other life circumstances.
Key points
- Motor-cognitive associations found in Western, high-income settings may not automatically apply to sub-Saharan African children whose development is shaped by informal play and unstructured physical activity
- Six motor-cognitive associations reached nominal significance before statistical correction, most consistently between Shuttle Run speed and selective attention
- After false discovery rate correction, none of the associations remained statistically significant
- The study identified major gaps: no prior research on motor-cognitive links exists for sub-Saharan African preschool populations
- Future studies must measure nutritional status, parental education, socioeconomic factors, home stimulation, habitual activity, sleep, and preschool context
Limitations
The study is exploratory and cross-sectional with a small sample (n=56), so no causal conclusions can be drawn. The findings did not survive statistical correction for multiple comparisons, limiting confidence in the results.
Abstract
Higher motor competence and fundamental motor skill levels have been linked to stronger executive and attentional functions in early childhood. Still, this evidence base is drawn almost entirely from high-income, so-called WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic) settings. In sub-Saharan African contexts, developmental opportunities are often shaped instead by informal outdoor play, household activity, active commuting, and uneven access to structured physical education. Therefore, it is unclear whether motor-cognitive associations described in WEIRD samples extend to this setting in the sub-Saharan African children's population. This exploratory cross-sectional study examined associations between motor performance and seven cognitive functions in 56 Zambian preschool children (mean age 4.80 ± 0.57 years; 22 boys, 34 girls) recruited from three government preschools in Lusaka. Motor performance was assessed with the Standing Long Jump, 4 × 5 m Shuttle Run, Lateral Jumps, Shifting Platforms, Right- and Left-Hand overarm throws, and the 20 m shuttle run(BEEP) test; cognition was assessed with the seven subtests of the Intelligence and Development Scales - Preschool (IDS-P). Linear regression models, stratified by age group (3-4.9 and 5-6.9 years) and adjusted for age and sex, identified six motor-cognitive associations that reached nominal significance, most consistently between faster Shuttle Run performance and higher Selective Attention scores in both age groups (older group: standardised β = -0.56, p = .003, R2 = .37) and between Standing Long Jump and Visual Processing in the older group (β = 0.55, p = .003, R2 = .32). None of these associations remained significant after false discovery rate (FDR) correction. The findings should be interpreted as preliminary, hypothesis-generating signals rather than confirmatory evidence of specific motor-cognitive pathways. Larger longitudinal and intervention studies that measure nutritional status, parental education, socioeconomic circumstances, home stimulation, habitual physical activity, sleep quality, and preschool context are needed in sub-Saharan African preschool populations.