Walking to School and Cognition

A recent study done in Spain found that adolescent girls who walked or biked to school had better cognitive performance. Although, it was not found to be true for boys. Even when socioeconomics, age, body weight and activities outside of school were factored in, the difference in cognitive performance in girls was still observed. In addition, girls who walked or biked more than 15 minutes had better cognitive scores than girls who walked/ biked less than 15 minutes.

Curious to see if the same results would be found if children simply exercised before school or is it the actual walking outdoors that makes the difference?

Reference: David Martinez-Gomez; Jonatan R. Ruiz; Sonia Gomez-Martinez; Palma Chillon; J. Pablo Rey-Lopez; Ligia E. Diaz; Ruth Castillo; Oscar L. Veiga; Ascension Marcos; for the AVENA Study Group Active Commuting to School and Cognitive Performance in Adolescents: The AVENA Study Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2010;0(2010):archpediatrics.2010.244.