Association between sport types and visuospatial working memory in athletes

Abstract

Several studies have demonstrated that athletes show superior performance in general cognitive functions compared to non-athletes. However, the effects on cognitive function might vary depending on the athlete's sport type. In athletes, the visuospatial working memory is a crucial function for immediate response to each situation and experience. However, no studies have yet examined the association between visuospatial working memory and sport types. This study aimed to investigate whether sport type influences the differences in visuospatial working memory in athletes using a cross-sectional study. A total of 67 young individuals, including 59 athletes (long-distance running, tennis, kendo, and soccer players) and eight non-athletes (controls), participated in the study. Athletes were classified into static, interceptive, or strategic depending on their sport type. The reaction time, accuracy, and balanced integration score (BIS) of the spatial working memory task (SWMT) were examined in all participants. Strategic athletes showed a shorter reaction time and higher BIS value of SWMT than static athletes and non-athletes. We concluded that the visuospatial working memory of strategic athletes was better than that of non-athletes and static athletes. This finding suggests that visuospatial working memory might play an important role in determining athletic performance in strategic sport types, making improved visuospatial working memory a key advantage for strategic athletes.

The Impact of Table Tennis Exercises on Working Memory of Educable Intellectually Disabled Students

“…These include the effects of gymnastic exercises (26), active games (27), skill-based exercises (28), aerobic exercises (29), selected games (30), and spark exercises (11). Previous studies have shown that due to their different cognitive requirements, different sports can create differences in the transfer of cognitive skills, including working memory function (15). Among various sports, strategic disciplines require more cognitive skills.…”

“…In other words, newly acquired memory is initially influenced by consolidation mechanisms and later becomes engaged in reconsolidation mechanisms (14). Furthermore, strategic athletes likely have higher cognitive demands in visualspatial working memory since they process more visualspatial information (teammates, opponents, field positions, and the ball) compared to other types of sports (15). For example, Crova et al showed that tennis exercises, compared to aerobic exercises, led to greater improvements in working memory and inhibitory response in overweight children (16).…”

Dynamics of the Prefrontal Cortex in the Interplay of Orienteering Experience and Cognitive Performance: An fNIRS Investigation

“…Sports experience and cognitive ability are intertwined, and together they shape an individual's behavior and thinking patterns. Motor experience is not only a simple accumulation of body muscle movement, but also includes the individual's cognitive ability complementary to the perception of environmental changes, the execution of the action and the feedback of the result [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] . It has become an established fact that exercise can effectively promote cognition.…”