The ability to regulate energy expenditure during exercise depends upon being able to conceptualise the demands of the task as well as understanding our own physiological limits. Since there is an intellectual aspect to conceptualising task demand, the purpose of this thesis was to explore the importance of cognitive development in children and its influence on exercise pacing strategy. All of the experimental studies in this thesis used a series of conservation tasks to evaluate children's stage of cognitive development. In all of the studies pacing was measured using video analysis to determine average speed at either 5% or 10% segments across a novel running distance. Four experiments were conducted. The first experiment found that a faster relative starting pace was adopted by children between 5-9 years old compared to older children aged 11-14 years old, and that this effect was in part due to differences in cognitive development. In a second study 12- year old children produced a slower pace when a running task was determined using temporal rather than spatial parameters. This effect was due to the conceptually more difficult task of mentally representing time compared to the conceptually easier and visibly tangible parameter of distance. In the third experiment, a slower pace for the first 30% of a 750 m run was recorded among 12-year old children when asked to complete the task on a single large lap compared to five laps of a smaller 150 m circuit. It is concluded that this effect is perhaps due to the larger single track perceptually appearing to be a longer running task. In the final study two-year follow-up data was collected from some of the participants used in study 1, different pacing and improved performance was found among the 5-7 year old follow-up group.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:654457 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Chinnasamy, Camilla |
| Publisher | University of Essex |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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