The Effects of Brain-Breaks on Short-Term Memory Among Primary School Children in Malaysia

Abstract

Introduction: Brain-breaks is a physical activity video that is designed for school settings to stimulate student’s physical health, learning and cognitive function. However, its effects on short-term memory have not been determined to date. Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the effects of brain-breaks on short-term memory among primary school children in Malaysia. Methods: A total of 159 male and 176 female students aged 10 to 11 years old (mean age = 10.51 ± .50) from two schools in Kelantan were recruited. Purposive sampling was used to divide the students into intervention (n = 183) and control (n = 152) groups. The brain-breaks session lasted only for five minutes where the students in the intervention group perform the exercises during the school day (i.e. five times per week) for twelve weeks. Short term memory was assessed using the Digit Span Test. This test was carried out at pre-, mid- and post-test. Mixed repeated measure analysis of variance was used to analyse the data. Results: There was a significant effect on time, F (2, 298) = 25.659, p-value $\left( {\upeta_{\text{p}}^{2} } \right) = .001\left( {.147} \right)$ and interaction, F (2, 298) = 16.822, p-value $\left( {\upeta_{\text{p}}^{2} } \right) = .001\left( {.101} \right)$ on the short-term memory. Short term memory was significantly different between both groups, F (1, 299) = 15.44, p-value (ηp2) < .001 (.049). Conclusion: Brain-breaks was successful in improving the primary students’ short-term memory. Future research should consider adding other tests to measure the cognitive domains of students to understand the benefits of Brain-breaks further.