Sports training enhances visuo-spatial cognition regardless of open-closed typology

Ting-Yu Chueh; Chung-Ju Huang; Shu-Shih Hsieh; Kuan-Fu Chen; Yu-Kai Chang; Tsung-Min Hung

doi:10.7717/peerj.3336

Sports training enhances visuo-spatial cognition regardless of open-closed typology

PeerJ. 2017 May 23:5:e3336. doi: 10.7717/peerj.3336. eCollection 2017.

Authors

Ting-Yu Chueh^#¹, Chung-Ju Huang^#², Shu-Shih Hsieh¹, Kuan-Fu Chen¹, Yu-Kai Chang³, Tsung-Min Hung¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physical Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan.
² Graduate Institute of Sport Pedagogy, University of Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan.
³ Graduate Institute of Athletics and Coaching Science, National Taiwan Sport University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of open and closed sport participation on visuo-spatial attention and memory performance among young adults. Forty-eight young adults-16 open-skill athletes, 16 closed-skill athletes, and 16 non-athletes controls-were recruited for the study. Both behavioral performance and event-related potential (ERP) measurement were assessed when participants performed non-delayed and delayed match-to-sample task that tested visuo-spatial attention and memory processing. Results demonstrated that regardless of training typology, the athlete groups exhibited shorter reaction times in both the visuo-spatial attention and memory conditions than the control group with no existence of speed-accuracy trade-off. Similarly, a larger P3 amplitudes were observed in both athlete groups than in the control group for the visuo-spatial memory condition. These findings suggest that sports training, regardless of typology, are associated with superior visuo-spatial attention and memory performance, and more efficient neural resource allocation in memory processing.

Keywords: Cognitive function; Event-related potential; Expertise; Sports.

Grants and funding

This research was partly supported by a grant from the “Aim for Top University Project” of the Ministry of Education, Taiwan. There was no additional external funding received for this study. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.