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Exercise Alone Boosts Children's Emotion Recognition, Study Finds

1/13/2026

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Summary

Story summary

Researchers from the University of Basel studied 100 children aged 9 to 13 to test whether short exercise sessions improve emotion recognition.
Children who exercised alone showed improved emotion recognition, while cooperative activities did not outperform a control group.
The researchers suggest regular, long-term exercise may be needed to boost social cognition in cooperative settings.
They plan to run a 12-week program to explore this potential and its classroom implications.

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Story summary

Researchers from the University of Basel studied 100 children aged 9 to 13 to test whether short exercise sessions improve emotion recognition.
Children who exercised alone showed improved emotion recognition, while cooperative activities did not outperform a control group.
The researchers suggest regular, long-term exercise may be needed to boost social cognition in cooperative settings.
They plan to run a 12-week program to explore this potential and its classroom implications.