investigating exercise task characteristics, contextual factors, and related affective states. The study aimed to test whether different feedback forms during acute cognitively challenging exercise affect children’s executive control, alerting, and orienting performances, also considering the potential mediational role of affective states. Methods: In a within–subjects posttest only design, 100 children (Mage = 11.0, SDage = 0.8, 48% female) participated weekly in one of three exergames with different feedback: no feedback (NO-FB), standard acoustic environment (ST-FB), positive feedback (PO-FB). Acute bouts were designed to keep physical intensity (65% HRmax) and duration (15-min) constant and to have a high cognitive challenge. Valence, arousal, perceived physical exertion, cognitive engagement, and flow were assessed before, during and after exergaming. Each bout was followed by an Attention Network Test. Results: ANOVAs revealed a significant main effect of feedback on executive control (η2p = 0.09) with faster reaction times after PO-FB compared to the other conditions (η2ps > 0.06) and on valence at post–test (η2p = 0.11) with highest values in PO-FB (η2ps > 0.08). In PO-FB, valence was associated with executive control (r =
