Correlations between motor and cognitive skills in young basketball players: A bivariate regression analysis

Abstract

The present literature highlights the importance of the cognitive aspects in the motor development of the sporty, Typically Developing children. The cognitive aspects permit to investigate how overcoming our self-limits, by increasing the expectations. The cognitive development is a ground-variable of the motor development, and enriches it.In this study we refer to young basketball players aged between 7 and 11 years old. We propose them a motor (motor manual sequencing skill, manual dexterity, balance, and aiming and catching) and a cognitive assessment. (visuo-spatial working memory, attention, inhibition and switching). By collecting our data, we propose a complete bivariate regression analysis, which follows the preliminary already published data. We focus on cognitive and motor individual abilities, to verify the correlation between them. Through this investigation, we would like to support the involvement of cognitive aspects in each part of the motor development of the children, even if depending on teachers, coaches and educators.

Effect of a Strategic Physical Activity Program on Cognitive Flexibility among Children with Internet Addiction: A Pilot Study

“…As a team sport in which each player has a specific task according to their position on the court, it also requires attention while playing with teammates and opponents [ 22 ]. Previous studies have found that the motor competence of young basketball players was positively correlated with cognition (a denomination task and a visuo-spatial working memory task) and motor manual sequencing (ball skills and manual dexterity tasks) [ 23 , 24 ]. As such, basketball could be a good candidate for improving EF in those with IA.…”

Importance of Motor Skills in Early Childhood

“…This idea is reinforced in the embodied cognition perspective, in which cognition is considered to take place in the context of the sensory-motor interactions of the individual's body with their physical, as well as with their social environment (Barsalou, 1999;Gibbs, 2005;Smith & Gasser, 2005). This theoretical notion is supported by empirical studies (Ludyga et al, 2019;Oberer et al, 2017;Piek et al, 2008;Policastro et al, 2019;Roebers & Kaurer, 2009; that have demonstrated a positive relationship between motor skills and higher cognitive processes such as response inhibition (RI), working memory (WM), and cognitive flexibility (CF), which are collectively known as executive functions (EFs) (Miyake et al, 2000). Previous studies investigating this relationship in typically developing children have yielded inconsistent findings regarding the strength and nature of the association, and while many of the studies examined the association between motor skills and EFs in school children, the extent to which the results can be generalized to preschoolers is still unclear (Cameron et al, 2012;Houwen et al, 2017;Oberer et al, 2017).…”