Basic Cognitive Abilities Relevant to Male Adolescents’ Soccer Performance

Abstract

While there is a theoretical and empirical consensus that specific cognitive abilities gained through deliberate sports practice influence sports performance, it is less clear whether basic cognitive abilities that are not specifically related to sports practice are relevant to sports performance. Accordingly, this research examined the roles of basic concentration and visuospatial ability in adolescent soccer performance. Participants were 46 adolescent male soccer players ( Mage = 16.15 years, standard deviation = 1.13) who averaged 7.21 years (standard deviation = 2.2) of prior soccer training. We measured participant’s basic cognitive abilities with the Corsi block and the concentration grid tasks, and we measured their soccer performance through five soccer skills. Concentration had no predictive role in elements of soccer performance, but visuospatial ability was significantly related to tactical abilities, technical skills, mental toughness, and situational awareness and thus, to overall soccer performance. These findings provided support for the importance of visuospatial ability but not concentration (as measured by the concentration grid) in young males’ soccer performance.

Differences on Prosaccade Task in Skilled and Less Skilled Female Adolescent Soccer Players

“…This is consistent with previous studies, demonstrating that saccade latency is influenced by information processing speed (Noiret et al, 2017(Noiret et al, , 2018 and others showing that saccade latency varies as a function of cognitive function (Coors et al, 2021;Thomas et al, 2021). More importantly, this result is also consistent with studies, demonstrating that players' cognitive capacities vary as a function of their skill levels (Vestberg et al, 2012(Vestberg et al, , 2017Glavaš, 2020).…”

The role of working memory capacity in soccer tactical decision making at different levels of expertise

“…The results showed a slightly stronger relationship between visuospatial WMC and free-throw performance among superelite and elite compared to amateur and novice youth basketball players, suggesting a moderating role of athletic expertise. This study, together with another study showing a correlation between the visuospatial ability of young soccer players and several measures of soccer performance (Glavaš, 2020), supports the theoretical relevance of the working memory capacity in sports. However, both studies tested only the visuospatial component of the working memory (Baddeley, 2003) because they used the Corsi-Block task (Corsi, 1973) to assess the visuospatial short-term memory span.…”

“…However, both studies tested only the visuospatial component of the working memory (Baddeley, 2003 ) because they used the Corsi-Block task (Corsi, 1973 ) to assess the visuospatial short-term memory span. Furthermore, Glavaš ( 2020 ) did not operationalize skill levels at all, whereas the average age of the sample in Vaughan and Laborde's ( 2021 ) study was slightly above 19 ( SD = 1,01). This raises the question of the exact level of expertise of these athletes.…”

Reliability and Usefulness of the SKILLCOURT as a Computerized Agility and Motor–Cognitive Testing Tool

“…They have to perceive, process, and interpret external stimuli (e.g., positions of players and objects) and adapt their actions quickly and precisely (1). This simultaneously challenges the cognitive (e.g., reaction time, cognitive flexibility, working memory) and motor (e.g., sprinting, change of direction) capacities of athletes, which both have repeatedly been shown to be essential determinants for sport performance (2)(3)(4)(5). The assessment of these motor and increasingly also cognitive functions is a central component of performance diagnostics in the context of player screenings and return-to-play processes (6).…”