Emerging research is beginning to look at the complexities of movement in more detail. Some of the advanced work is described and linked below. You can also find a more comprehensive list of research articles associated with martial arts, cognition and general health on the
Martial Arts in Education Website.
"I predict that improving bimanual coordination and eye-hand coordination, and working on activities that require frequently crossing the midline and/or rhythmic movement, might be particularly valuable." - Dr. Adele Diamond
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"a variety of physical activities from walking to gardening and dancing can improve brain volume and cut the risk of Alzheimer's disease by 50%"
- Dr. Cyrus A. Raji |
"In a randomized controlled design, participants were assigned to one of three conditions: aerobic exercise, working memory training or designed sport — an intervention specifically tailored to include both physical and cognitive demands. After training for eight weeks, the designed sport group showed the largest gains in all cognitive measures, illustrating the efficacy of complex motor activities to enhance cognition"
- Dr. David Moreau |
“To see widespread benefits, diverse skills must be practiced. For that reason, real world activities such as martial arts and certain school curricula (that train diverse executive-function abilities) have shown more widespread cognitive benefits than targeted computerized training"
- Dr. Adele Diamond |