## 4 Discussion  
Due to current research interest in human cognition and its relation to PA participation in children, this study intended to investigate hypothetical serial paths of relationships between PA participation and EFs. It was revealed that, although PA does not directly lead to the enhancement of working memory and cognitive flexibility measures, a serial path links PA to MC and this latter to EFs. In contrast to the association of MC with both PA levels and EFs and its important role in the serial path linking PA, MC, and EFs, in this study, BMI was not related to EFs. The absence of associations between BMI, PA, and EFs is contrary to our hypothesis. Although evidence exists on the PA-BMI relationship in children [29; 31; 32], the relationship between BMI and EFs still remains to be explored [34; 36]. Notably, children in this study were active members of sport clubs. This fact may have influenced their weight status which was normal for most of them. Other studies have shown that children participating in sports usually have normal weight status [77]. For instance, the effects of a 14-week intervention of short active breaks on EFs were moderated by socioeconomic and weight status [78]. In particular, overweight or obese adolescents (senior high school students) had the largest improvements in working memory performance, but no effects were found on normal weight adolescents. In fact, the current results reaffirmed the hypothesis that PA participation contributes to the refinement of children's motor skills, with a significant direct effect of PA detected on MC. However, in this study, we did not find a direct link between PA and working memory. Previous studies supporting the relationship between PA and working memory have reported inconclusive findings: some have shown a positive association [79; 80; 81; 82], while others did not [83; 84; 85]. Figure 1: Standardized path coefficients and squared multiple correlations. PA: physical activity, MC: motor competence, WMcorrect = working memory. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & \begin{tabular}{c} **Confidence** \\ **Intervals (95\%)** \\ \end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{c} \(p\) \\ \end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{c} **Indirect** \\ **Effect** \\ \end{tabular} & \
\begin{tabular}{c} **Confidence** \\ **Intervals (95\%)** \\ \end{tabular} &
\begin{tabular}{c} \(p\) \\ \end{tabular} \\ \hline PA\(\rightarrow\)MC & 0.095 & 0.060, 0.374 & 0.016 & & & \\ MC\(\rightarrow\)WMcorrect & 0.093 & 0.188, 0.501 & 0.011 & PA\(\rightarrow\)MC\(\rightarrow\)WMcorrect & 0.033 & 0.023, 0.141 & 0.010 \\ MC\(\rightarrow\)SwitchAcc & 0.144 & 0.047, 0.552 & 0.032 & PA\(\rightarrow\)MC\(\rightarrow\)SwitchAcc & 0.040 & 0.017, 0.168 & 0.014 \\ MC\(\rightarrow\)SwitchRT & 0.111 & \(-\)0.475, \(-\)0.092 & 0.019 & PA\(\rightarrow\)MC\(\rightarrow\)SwitchRT & 0.036 & \(-\)0.131, \(-\)0.011 & 0.022 \\ MC\(\rightarrow\)NSwitchAcc & 0.137 & 0.112, 0.575 & 0.035 & PA\(\rightarrow\)MC\(\rightarrow\)NSwitchAcc & 0.042 & 0.023, 0.173 & 0.020 \\ MC\(\rightarrow\)NSwitchRT & 0.108 & \(-\)0.401, \(-\)0.040 & 0.069 & PA\(\rightarrow\)MC\(\rightarrow\)NSwitchRT & 0.032 & \(-\)0.125, \(-\)0.008 & 0.040 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} Bootstrap samples = 200.  
\end{table} 
Table 3: Standardized directs and indirect effects. In the systematic review and meta-analysis of [PERSON] et al. [3], small effects of PA on working memory were shown (ES = 0.14), while significant publication bias was reported in the subgroup analyses of working memory. It was also suggested that different types of PA may provoke different PA effects, based on the cognitive demand required. However, several researchers, who compared EFs of children participating in different types of sports identified a lack of differences in their working memory skills; a finding that was attributed to the similarity of training content among sports in childhood [86, 87].