- Academic Editor
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†These authors contributed equally.
Background: Inhibitory control (IC), an important component of
executive function, plays an important role in the overall development of
children and has not been better studied in the field of equine-assisted activity
(EAA). Therefore, this study investigated the effects of EAA on IC and the
underlying brain neural mechanisms in children aged 7–8 years. Methods:
Forty-eight healthy children aged 7–8 years from the Maple Leaf International
School-Xi’an were randomly allocated to the equine-assisted activities group
(EAAG) and control group (CG). The EAAG received 12 weeks of EAAG training from
instructors at the MingLiu Horse Club while the CG continued their normal daily
activities. The Flanker task was administered to both groups to assess IC pre-
and post-intervention. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) data were
collected during the Flanker task to examine the underlying neural mechanisms.
Results: Our findings indicate that after 12 weeks of EAA, the EAAG
performed significantly better on the Flanker tasks than the CG, with congruent
and incongruent higher accuracy and faster reaction (p