Attention, working‐memory control, working‐memory capacity, and sport performance: The moderating role of athletic expertise

Vaughan, Robert S.; Laborde, Sylvain

doi:10.1080/17461391.2020.1739143

Cited by 43 publications

(45 citation statements)

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“…Taking into account the limitations of conventional performance tests, recent research has sought to identify alternatives supplementing the current diagnostic spectrum. A plethora of studies focused on the potential role of perceptual-cognitive function [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. Briefly, it has been suggested that superior levels of related skills (e.g., visual scanning, attention, working memory, inhibitory control) could help to increase sports performance and prevent injury [ 6 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Traditional Neuropsychological Testing Does Not Predict Motor-Cognitive Test Performance

Wilke

Vogel

Ungricht

2020

IJERPH

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The ecological validity of neuropsychological testing (NT) has been questioned in the sports environment. A frequent criticism is that NT, mostly consisting of pen and paper or digital assessments, lacks relevant bodily movement. This study aimed to identify the determinants of a newly developed testing battery integrating both cognitive and motor demands. Twenty active individuals (25 ± 3 years, 11 males) completed the new motor-cognitive testing battery (MC), traditional NT (Stroop test, Trail Making test, Digit Span test) and isolated assessments of motor function (MF; Y-balance test, 20m-sprint, counter-movement jump). Kendal’s tau and partial Spearman correlations were used to detect associations between MC and NT/MF. Except for two items (Reactive Agility A and counter-movement jump; Run-Decide and sprint time; r = 0.37, p < 0.05), MC was not related to MF. Similarly, MC and NT were mostly unrelated, even when controlling for the two significant motor covariates (p > 0.05). The only MC item with (weak to moderate) associations to NT was the Memory Span test (Digit Span backwards and composite; r = 0.43–0.54, p < 0.05). In sum, motor-cognitive function appears to be largely independent from its two assumed components NT and MF and may represent a new parameter in performance diagnostics.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Traditional Neuropsychological Testing Does Not Predict Motor-Cognitive Test Performance

Wilke

Vogel

Ungricht

2020

IJERPH

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“…In a review of 91 studies on athletic expertise, Swann et al (2015) concluded that a final consensus is difficult to reach because of heterogeneity in the ways past investigators classified athletic expertise. Swann et al (2015) proposed a standardized taxonomy across sport type accommodating the highest level of performance in terms of success, experience, the competitiveness of the sport, and the global representativeness of the sport; this proposal has received support from others (Hagyard et al, 2021;Vaughan & Laborde, 2020).…”

Section: The Present Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Inconsistencies in this literature may be explained by methodological differences between studies, including (a) variations in the tasks that were used to measure EF, (b) failing to capture EF complexity by using only single outcome measures of efficiency or effectiveness, and/or (c) investigators’ use of different taxonomies to portray athlete expertise ( Furley & Wood, 2016 ; Jacobson & Matthaeus, 2014 ; Swann et al., 2015 ; Vaughan & Edwards, 2020 ). Recent, research has shown that EF may interact with other processes to best explain sport performance ( Vaughan & Laborde, 2020 ). Considering the respective importance of both mood and EF for athletes of differing expertise levels, these two factors are likely to interact in their influence on performance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Executive Function and Mood: The Moderating Role of Athletic Expertise

Vaughan

McConville

2021

Percept Mot Skills

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Executive function (EF) is known to be influenced by mood, but whether this relationship holds for populations of athletes and whether athletic expertise moderates it is uncertain. Thus, in the current study, we examined relationships between positive and negative affect (i.e., mood), the lower-order cortical aspects of executive function (i.e., inhibition, shifting and updating), and athletic expertise. A sample of 256 participants (55.08% male; Mage = 20.69) completed a self-report mood measure and computerized tests of EF. Individuals with more athletic expertise reported higher positive affect and better EF scores, whereas those with less athletic expertise reported higher negative affect. Structural equation modelling indicated that positive affect was related to better inhibition, shifting, and updating performance but was not related to performance errors. Similarly, negative affect was related to better EF, except for the inhibition latency score. Athletic expertise moderated all significant associations between mood and EF and higher expertise facilitated higher EF performance. Together, athletic expertise is an important individual differences factor in understanding the influence of mood on EF performance.

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“…More broadly, it has been suggested that individuals who achieve high levels of expertise also show enhanced performance across a wide range of core cognitive or perceptual domains in general, outside the specific context of their expertise. To continue with the example of sports, several recent studies have found that elite athletes outperform non-athletes in cognitive tests evaluating attention, multitasking, working memory, and processing speed, with group effects ranging from small to medium effect sizes (Faubert, 2013;Scharfen & Memmert, 2019;Vaughan & Laborde, 2020;Voss et al, 2010). Professional athletes also showed faster improvement in performance on a three-dimensional multipleobject-tracking task (3D-MOT) as a function of training, compared to high-level amateurs and to non-athletes (Faubert, 2013;Faubert & Sidebottom, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The neuropsychological profile of professional action video game players

Benoit

Roudaia

Johnson

et al. 2020

PeerJ

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In the past 20 years, there has been growing research interest in the association between video games and cognition. Although many studies have found that video game players are better than non-players in multiple cognitive domains, other studies failed to replicate these results. Until now, the vast majority of studies defined video game players based on the number of hours an individual spent playing video games, with relatively few studies focusing on video game expertise using performance criteria. In the current study, we sought to examine whether individuals who play video games at a professional level in the esports industry differ from amateur video game players in their cognitive and learning abilities. We assessed 14 video game players who play in a competitive league (Professional) and 16 casual video game players (Amateur) on set of standard neuropsychological tests evaluating processing speed, attention, memory, executive functions, and manual dexterity. We also examined participants’ ability to improve performance on a dynamic visual attention task that required tracking multiple objects in three-dimensions (3D-MOT) over five sessions. Professional players showed the largest performance advantage relative to Amateur players in a test of visual spatial memory (Spatial Span), with more modest benefits in a test of selective and sustained attention (d2 Test of Attention), and test of auditory working memory (Digit Span). Professional players also showed better speed thresholds in the 3D-MOT task overall, but the rate of improvement with training did not differ in the two groups. Future longitudinal studies of elite video game experts are required to determine whether the observed performance benefits of professional gamers may be due to their greater engagement in video game play, or due to pre-existing differences that promote achievement of high performance in action video games.

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Attention, working‐memory control, working‐memory capacity, and sport performance: The moderating role of athletic expertise

Abstract: Research at York St John (RaY) is an institutional repository. It supports the principles of open access by making the research outputs of the University available in digital form.

Cited by 43 publications

References 50 publications

Traditional Neuropsychological Testing Does Not Predict Motor-Cognitive Test Performance

Traditional Neuropsychological Testing Does Not Predict Motor-Cognitive Test Performance

Executive Function and Mood: The Moderating Role of Athletic Expertise

The neuropsychological profile of professional action video game players

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