Athletics and executive functioning: How athletic participation and sport type correlate with cognitive performance

ObjectivesThis study aims to further the knowledge regarding the documented link between physical exercise and cognitive function. Specifically, we examined the relationship between the type and level of sports in which college students participate and their executive functioning (EF).DesignWe utilized a 3-way quasi-experimental design, and grouped participants by athletic status (athlete or non-athlete), sport type (self-paced, externally paced, or non-athlete; see Singer, 2000), and level (high-skilled or recreational).MethodsWe evaluated EF by administering a battery of validated tests of decision making, problem solving, and inhibition.ResultsWe found that athletes scored higher on some of the EF measures than non-athletes. Furthermore, we observed that scores varied by sport type according to which subset of EF each test measured. Self-paced athletes scored highest on an inhibition task, and externally paced athletes scored highest on a problem-solving task.ConclusionsOur results suggest that athletes outperform non-athletes on tests of such EF domains as inhibition and problem solving, and that different types of athletic experience may correlate with higher levels of particular EF domains.     

Imagery use of athletes in individual and team sports that require open and closed skill

This study compared use of imagery in elite male and female athletes in open and closed and individual or team sports. A total of 151 elite Turkish athletes ages 15 to 29 years old (males' M age=20.7 yr., SD=3.3; females' M age=20.0 yr., SD=3.5) from open-team sports (n=66), open-individual sports (n=26), and closed-individual sports (n=59) completed the sport imagery questionnaire. A significant multivariate effect of sport type was found. Univariate analyses indicated that male and female athletes in team open-skill sports and individual closed-skill sports used more motivational general-mastery imagery than did athletes in individual open-skill sports.     

The relationship between visual attention and expertise in sports

ObjectivesGiven the prevalence of misperception and failed perception, particularly in attention-demanding team sports, surprisingly few studies have explored whether experts in team sports differ from other athletes and from non-athletes in their basic attention abilities.MethodIn this study, we examined group differences between experts in team handball (n = 40), athletes from non-team sports (n = 40), and novice athletes (n = 40) using a battery of three attention tasks: a functional field of view task, a multiple-object tracking task, and an inattentional blindness task.ResultsPerformance on the three attention tasks was largely independent, with no significant correlations among the tasks. Team sports experts showed no better performance on the basic attention tasks than did athletes from non-teams sports or novice athletes.ConclusionsThe finding that all basic attention tasks are largely independent provides preliminary support for the idea that attentional breadth, tracking performance, and inattentional blindness are distinct attentional processes. Our results demonstrate that sports expertise effects are unrelated to basic differences in attention—expertise does not appear to produce differences in basic attention and basic differences in attention do not appear to predict eventual expertise. Further experiments could focus on the ways in which more specific attentional strategies and processes contribute to sports performance.     

Autonomy support and motivational responses across training and competition in individual and team sports

This study examined: (a) whether athletes’ (N = 348) perceived autonomy support (i.e., showing interest in athletes’ input and praising autonomous behavior) differs across contexts (training vs. competition) and sport types (individual vs. team sports), and (b) whether the relationships between autonomy support and effort, enjoyment, and anxiety are affected by context and sport type. Perceived autonomy support did not vary across contexts, but interest in athletes’ input was higher in individual than in team sports. Praise for autonomous behavior was associated positively with effort only when interest in input was high, and this effect was stronger in training than in competition. Finally, praise for autonomous behavior was also positively related to enjoyment in training, while interest in input was positively associated with anxiety in individual sports.     

A systematic review of studies comparing body image concerns among female college athletes and non-athletes, 1997–2012

Research prior to 2001 indicated that athletes experienced better body image than non-athletes, with no differences among sport types. Since then, female athletes have become increasingly sexually objectified in the media, and the sociocultural beauty ideal has shifted to emphasize appearing both athletic and thin. Part I of this paper explores the literature describing these changes. Part II presents a systematic and comprehensive literature review of 10 recent studies comparing body image concerns (BIC) among collegiate female athletes and non-athletes to identify the current status of BIC in female athletes. Findings indicate that involvement in collegiate athletics provides some protection from BIC; however, this protection appears attenuated for athletes in more feminine sports (e.g., gymnastics), and higher level athletes (Division I). Researchers should examine how sociocultural pressures unrelated to competition predict female athletes’ BIC using measures that focus on objectification, positive body image, body functionality, and thin- and athletic-ideal internalization.     

Anger rumination: an antecedent of athlete aggression?

Objectives. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between anger rumination (the propensity to think almost obsessively over past experiences that have provoked negative affect in the form of anger) and athlete aggression. It was predicted that high levels of anger rumination would be associated with an increased propensity to aggress.Method. A questionnaire comprising the Anger Rumination Scale (Sukhodolsky, Golub, & Cromwell, 2001), aggression and demographic questions was distributed to 305 male and female competitive athletes of varying ability who represented several team and individual sports.Results. Principal component factor analysis revealed a single rumination factor rather than the four-factor solution previously described. No differences in Anger Rumination Scale score were found between males and females, team and individual sport players or competitive level. Provocation and anger rumination were significantly correlated with athletes’ reported aggressive behaviour. Aggression was higher in males compared to females. Type of sport was also related to incidence of aggression; athletes who participated in individual sports reported lower levels of aggression than athletes who played team sports.Conclusions. It was concluded that provocation and anger rumination were significant predictors of subsequent aggression and suggestions for preventing rumination, such as thought stopping and thought switching, were made.     

Empowering youth sport and acculturation: Examining the hosts’ perspective in Greek adolescents

ObjectivesResearch on the role of sport as a context for the acculturation of young migrants has mainly focused on migrant populations. Considering that acculturation is a two-way process involving both the migrant and the host populations, research investigating the perspective of the hosts will enhance our understanding of the acculturation process. The purpose of the present study was to explore acculturation attitudes and perceptions of adolescents from the host population as a function of sport participation. Furthermore, for those adolescents participating in sport, the role of the sport motivational climate and its relation to acculturation attitudes was investigated.Design and MethodA cross-sectional quantitative design was adopted. Participants were 626 (316 girls) Greek, high school students (13.88 ± 1.01 years of age). Among them, 271 (92 girls) were athletes competing in individual and team sports. While all participants completed measures of acculturation attitudes, the athletes additionally completed measures of motivational climate, basic need satisfaction, and controlling coaching behavior.ResultsAthletes scored higher than non-athletes on attitudes towards multicultural contact. Analysis of structural models revealed that a motivational climate characterized by a mastery climate, supportive of the needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, was positively linked to attitudes favoring migrants’ maintenance of their culture and development of interaction with the host culture, whereas a motivational climate characterized by a performance climate and controlling coaching behavior was negatively linked to such attitudes.ConclusionThese findings provide useful insights concerning the perspectives of the host population regarding migrants’ acculturation and the role motivational climate play in promoting integration.     

Pain and athletes: Contact sport participation and performance in pain

ObjectivesThis study examined the effect of cold pressor pain on performance in high-contact athletes, low-contact athletes and non-athletes.DesignA three-group between-subjects experimental design was used.MethodSeventy-one participants completed a motor task and a cognitive task of different complexity (easy or hard) both in pain and not in pain. The motor task involved participants throwing a tennis ball at numbered targets in the correct order. In the cognitive task, participants were required to check off the numbers one to twenty-five in the correct order from a grid of randomly ordered numbers. Task difficulty was increased by adding dummy targets (motor task) or extra numbers (cognitive task).ResultsCold pressor pain was rated as less intense by high-contact athletes during both tasks compared to low-contact athletes and non-athletes. High-contact athletes’ performance was not hampered by pain on the motor task, whereas it was in low-contact athletes and non-athletes. However, pain did not hamper performance for any group during the cognitive task. Low-contact and non-athletes did not differ from each other in their pain reports or the degree to which their performance was hampered by pain in either task.ConclusionsThis study provides evidence that adaptation to pain through participation in high-contact sports can enhance both pain tolerance generally and motor performance specifically under increases in pain. The mechanisms behind these differences warrant further exploration.     

Line-bisecting performance in highly skilled athletes: Does preponderance of rightward error reflect unique cortical organization and functioning?

A line-bisecting test was administered to 250 highly skilled right-handed athletes and a control group of 60 right-handed age matched non-athletes. Results revealed that athletes made overwhelmingly more rightward errors than non-athletes, who predominantly bisected lines to the left of the veridical center. These findings were interpreted in the context of previous EEG research on athletes and brain localization studies of select personality traits. A preliminary theory (Group Cortical Organization and Activation Theory) that highly skilled athletes and other specific homogeneous populations may have developed a unique cortical organization or response system that mediates relative tendencies in cerebral activation was advanced. The potential utility of the line-bisecting test as an assessment and intervention tool in sports was discussed.     

Predicting sports performance from well-being: A mapping of professional athletes’, amateur athletes’ and non-athletes’ positions

IntroductionPrediction of performance and well-being are two essential keys in sports performance.ObjectiveThe study aimed to map different positions regarding the way in which individuals integrated mentally five elements of eudaimonic well-being (relatedness, autonomy, competence, mental vitality and physical vitality) for predicting the degree of performance at the beginning of a match.MethodTwenty-four non-athletes, 44 amateur athletes and 26 professional athletes indicated their prediction of performance in 32 scenarios constructed from the combination of these elements of well-being. Cluster analysis, ANOVAs, and chi-square test have been done.ResultsTwo positions on prediction of performance were found. The first cluster was called “Sometimes Performance Prediction” and the second cluster was named “Seldom Performance Prediction”. The five elements had a positive effect on the prediction of performance. The composition of both clusters was linked to the level of involvement in sport.ConclusionOffering athletes a “well-being environment” may lead to predict the sports performance.     

A comparison of body size ideals, body dissatisfaction, and media influence between female track athletes, martial artists, and non-athletes

ObjectivesIn assessments of body image among athletes, there remains an important discrepancy between studies reporting, on one hand, increased body dissatisfaction among athletes and, on the other, lower body image concerns. In order to help resolve this contradiction, the present study examined body size ideals, body dissatisfaction, and media influence among female recreational athletes and non-athletes.MethodForty-one track athletes (a judged sport in which leanness is actively promoted), 47 women involved in Taek Won Do (a martial art with little or no emphasis on leanness), and 44 non-athletes completed self-report measures of ideal body size, body dissatisfaction, and media influence, and provided their demographic details.ResultsResults showed that, after controlling for participants' body mass index (BMI), there were no significant between-group differences in ideal body size. By contrast, track athletes reported the highest body dissatisfaction scores and the highest internalisation of athletic media messages. Results of a regression analysis showed that, for the total sample, participants' BMI and internalisation of athletic media messages predicted body dissatisfaction over-and-above involvement in the different sports.ConclusionThese results support the suggestion that women participating in leanness-promoting sports experience greater body dissatisfaction than women in other sports or non-athletes.     

Personal characteristics as predictors for dual career dropout versus continuation – A prospective study of adolescent athletes from German elite sport schools

ObjectivesThe primary objective of this study is to identify the personal characteristics that predict dropout versus continuation among dual career athletes from different sports who attend sports schools. These schools provide an optimal environment for combining an academic education with a sports career.MethodsAt the end of the school year, all 10th graders (52 girls, 73 boys) from five out of six sports schools in Saxony, Germany, completed a standardised questionnaire that measured personal characteristics deemed important for a successful career – personality traits (Freiburger Persönlichkeitsinventar – FPI), goal orientation (Sport Orientation Questionnaire – SOQ), and volitional skills (Volitional Components in Sport – VKS). In addition, demographic and sport-related data were collected. One year later, at the end of 11th grade, all participants again completed the questionnaire.ResultsAt Time 2, 37 athletes (29.6%) had dropped out of their sport career, and 88 athletes were still pursuing their sport career. A majority of the dropouts were from individual sports (n = 31) and were females (n = 23). A logistic regression analysis of physical complaints (higher for dropouts), win motivation and self-optimisation (each lower for dropouts) as significant covariates correctly classified 65% of the dropouts and 92% of the non-dropouts.ConclusionsPersonal characteristics, motivation and volition in particular, played important roles for those adolescent athletes who remained active in their sport. Accordingly, it is suggested that young athletes receive psychological training focused on these specific personal characteristics.     

The relationship between action anticipation and emotion recognition in athletes of open skill sports

Action anticipation plays an important role in the successful performance of open skill sports, such as ball and combat sports. Evidence has shown that elite athletes of open sports excel in action anticipation. Most studies have targeted ball sports and agreed that information on body mechanics is one of the key determinants for successful action anticipation in open sports. However, less is known about combat sports, and whether facial emotions have an influence on athletes’ action anticipation skill. It has been suggested that the understanding of intention in combat sports relies heavily on emotional context. Based on this suggestion, the present study compared the action anticipation performances of taekwondo athletes, weightlifting athletes, and non-athletes and then correlated these with their performances of emotion recognition. This study primarily found that accurate action anticipation does not necessarily rely on the dynamic information of movement, and that action anticipation performance is correlated with that of emotion recognition in taekwondo athletes, but not in weightlifting athletes. Our results suggest that the recognition of facial emotions plays a role in the action prediction in such combat sports as taekwondo.     

Systems factorial technology provides novel insights into the cognitive processing characteristics of open-skill athletes

Sport expertise has been shown to modulate the cognitive advantage in open-skill athletes, with evidence for a greater advantage for athletes practicing interceptive sports relative to strategic sports. However, this conclusion is solely based on central tendency measures such as accuracy or mean reaction time (RT), dismissing important information embedded in the intra-individual temporal dynamics of cognitive performance. This study aimed to better understand the cognitive advantage associated with open-skill sports, with a non-parametric approach assessing cognitive process at the level of RT distribution (i.e., systems factorial technology, SFT). Twenty-eight interceptive sport athletes, 27 strategic sport athletes, and 26 physically active non-athletes performed a go/nogo version of the redundant target task to assess their processing capacity of simultaneously monitoring multiple information channels. SFT was applied to assess resilience capacity, an estimate of workload capacity underlying inhibitory control. Our findings showed that interceptive sport athletes exhibited shorter mean RT relative to non-athletes selectively in the task condition involving distracting information, while strategic sport athletes showed greater resilience capacity over earlier responses relative to the other groups. These findings suggest that the two types of open-skill sports may be associated with different processing specificity, possibly reflecting the domain-specific rules and requirements.     

Strength of Religious Faith: A Comparison of Intercollegiate Athletes and Non-Athletes

This pilot study explored the strength of religious faith in a sample of intercollegiate athletes and non-athletes. Participants were 226 undergraduate students (57 athletes) at the University of Florida who were enrolled in undergraduate courses. Strength of religious beliefs were assessed with the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith—Short Form. Findings indicate that athletes reported higher levels of religious faith than non-athletes. Implications of these findings on future research and applied sport practice are discussed.     

Junior High School Athletes Excel in Scholarship

Ninth grade boys from a California junior high school who were participants in interscholastic athletics were compared with non-participants with respect to academic achievement. The athletic group tested higher on academic ability on the School and College Ability Test and earned a higher academic grade-point average. When athletes and non-athletes were matched on SCAT test scores, the athletic group showed higher academic achievement. The majority of boys who participated in sports for only one semester did as well as or better academically during their semester of participation than they did the other ninth grade semester. An incidental finding of the study showed that boys in general showed improved grade-point averages in the ninth grade when compared with their eighth grade records.     

The Preliminary Development of the Scale for Effective Communication in Team Sports (SECTS)

Within sport psychology, a vague concept of effective team communication has been broached. Because of a lack of theoretical basis and skewed measurement, this construct is presently misunderstood and underutilized. A total of 681 athletes participated in a series of studies designed to construct a measurement of effective team communication in sports. Independent exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and subsequent confirmatory factor aalysis (CFA) uncovered a 4-factor model. The 4 emergent factors were defined as Distinctiveness, Acceptance, Positive Conflict, and Negative Conflict. Acceptance, distinctiveness, and positive conflict were consistently positively correlated to all aspects of cohesion, while negative conflict was negatively correlated to task cohesion. Post hoc analyses suggested that male athletes exchanged more distinctiveness and negative conflict than did female athletes. The resultant scale is offered as a theory-based, data-driven measurement of effective team communication in sports.     

Do conscientious athletes value world peace? Personality traits and value preferences of young athletes and non-athletes

The preferred values and personality traits of young athletes allow to predict their decisions in the sports context. Of 120 primary and junior high school students that were surveyed, including 60 students following an extended sports curriculum and 60 students following a standard curriculum. The athletes practiced soccer, basketball and swimming. The Picture-Based Value Survey for Children based on Schwartz's theory of universal values and the Picture-Based Personality Survey for Children predicated on the Big Five model of personality were used in this study. Regression analysis with an interaction effect of type of school program on relationships between values and personality traits was carried out. Effects were observed between the type of program and preference for Universalism and Conscientiousness and preference for Hedonism and Agreeableness. In athletes, Conscientiousness correlated positively with preference for Universalism. In non-athletes, a positive correlation was found between Agreeableness and preference for Hedonism.