Högskolan i Skövde

One of the psychological factors that have been suggested to influence athletes’ success is their cognitive prerequisites. Recent literature has investigated how sports performance is related to basic cognitive functions (e.g., processing speed and attention), higher cognitive functions (e.g., working memory capacity and inhibition), as well as cognitive skills (e.g., decision making). This research has lead to the—potentially premature—commercialization of products measuring cognitive functions or skills to identify and select talented athletes. The purpose of this meta-analysis was, therefore, to synthesize the research that has examined the relationship between cognitive skills and functions and sporting performance in net and invasion game athletes. Further, we aimed to estimate the ability of cognitive tests to dis- criminate between athletes with better and worse sporting performance. A literature search was performed in Cochrane library, PsychInfo, Pubmed, and Web of Science. We included studies if they were conducted on competitive athletes in net and invasion sports, assessed cognitive prerequisites, and included an individual performance measure related to the sport. 

Thirty-nine studies, with a total of 3438 athletes, met the criteria. The results showed a small effect size for basic (Hedge’s g = 0.43, 95% CI [0.09, 0.75]) and higher cognitive functions (Hedge’s g = 0.29, 95% CI [0.00, 0.62]), and a large effect size for decision making (Hedge’s g = 1.07, 95% CI [0.70, 1.42]); meaning athletes with better sport performance scored higher than athletes with worse sport performance. The probability of superiority indicated that an athlete with better sports performance would outscore an athlete with worse sports performance 63 of 100 times (95% CI [57, 70]) on basic cognitive function tests, 59 of 100 times (95% CI [53, 66]) on higher cognitive function tests, and 78 of 100 times (95% CI [72, 84]) on decision making tests. 

In conclusion, we found that tests of basic and higher cognitive functions had some ability to differentiate between athletes with better and worse sports performance in net and invasion sports on a group level. However, basic and higher cognitive function tests do not seem to be able to predict sports performance on an individual level. Meanwhile, we found that tests of decision making had the best ability to differentiate between athletes with better and worse sports performance on a group level, and some ability to predict the sport performance on an individual level.