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Inhibition and Calendar Age Explain Variance in Game Performance of Youth Soccer Athletes
The assessment of core executive functions (EFs; i.e., inhibition, working memory, cognitive flexibility) has often been presented as a diagnostic tool for evaluating cognitive functions in recent publications. For example, EFs are essential in soccer because players must quickly adapt, change strat...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8834799/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35162155 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031138 |
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author | Heilmann, Florian Wollny, Rainer Lautenbach, Franziska |
author_facet | Heilmann, Florian Wollny, Rainer Lautenbach, Franziska |
author_sort | Heilmann, Florian |
collection | PubMed |
description | The assessment of core executive functions (EFs; i.e., inhibition, working memory, cognitive flexibility) has often been presented as a diagnostic tool for evaluating cognitive functions in recent publications. For example, EFs are essential in soccer because players must quickly adapt, change strategies, and inhibit responses in rapidly changing game situations. Previous research has shown relations between (subjectively rated) game performance and the EFs of soccer players. Nevertheless, the previous studies’ samples were heterogeneous in their performance level (experts vs. amateurs), and the ratings were rather unsystematic (no validated rating protocol). Therefore, the current study aimed to predict soccer players’ game performance (i.e., systematically rated by coaches) with the help of EF performance. Therefore, we assessed the game performance (small-sided game, Game Performance Assessment Instrument [GPAI]) and EFs (inhibition: flanker task; working memory: 3-back task; cognitive flexibility: number-letter task) of 94 male soccer players (12–19 years old) from Germany’s highest competitive level. Multiple regression model results indicate that inhibition (i.e., flanker effect) and calendar age explain ~18% of players’ game performance variance. Results have to be interpreted with regard to the age-dependency of game performance and EFs. In conclusion, even though the results are based on a cross-sectional study, it appears that calendar age needs to be considered when assessing EFs. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8834799 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-88347992022-02-12 Inhibition and Calendar Age Explain Variance in Game Performance of Youth Soccer Athletes Heilmann, Florian Wollny, Rainer Lautenbach, Franziska Int J Environ Res Public Health Article The assessment of core executive functions (EFs; i.e., inhibition, working memory, cognitive flexibility) has often been presented as a diagnostic tool for evaluating cognitive functions in recent publications. For example, EFs are essential in soccer because players must quickly adapt, change strategies, and inhibit responses in rapidly changing game situations. Previous research has shown relations between (subjectively rated) game performance and the EFs of soccer players. Nevertheless, the previous studies’ samples were heterogeneous in their performance level (experts vs. amateurs), and the ratings were rather unsystematic (no validated rating protocol). Therefore, the current study aimed to predict soccer players’ game performance (i.e., systematically rated by coaches) with the help of EF performance. Therefore, we assessed the game performance (small-sided game, Game Performance Assessment Instrument [GPAI]) and EFs (inhibition: flanker task; working memory: 3-back task; cognitive flexibility: number-letter task) of 94 male soccer players (12–19 years old) from Germany’s highest competitive level. Multiple regression model results indicate that inhibition (i.e., flanker effect) and calendar age explain ~18% of players’ game performance variance. Results have to be interpreted with regard to the age-dependency of game performance and EFs. In conclusion, even though the results are based on a cross-sectional study, it appears that calendar age needs to be considered when assessing EFs. MDPI 2022-01-20 /pmc/articles/PMC8834799/ /pubmed/35162155 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031138 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Heilmann, Florian Wollny, Rainer Lautenbach, Franziska Inhibition and Calendar Age Explain Variance in Game Performance of Youth Soccer Athletes |
title | Inhibition and Calendar Age Explain Variance in Game Performance of Youth Soccer Athletes |
title_full | Inhibition and Calendar Age Explain Variance in Game Performance of Youth Soccer Athletes |
title_fullStr | Inhibition and Calendar Age Explain Variance in Game Performance of Youth Soccer Athletes |
title_full_unstemmed | Inhibition and Calendar Age Explain Variance in Game Performance of Youth Soccer Athletes |
title_short | Inhibition and Calendar Age Explain Variance in Game Performance of Youth Soccer Athletes |
title_sort | inhibition and calendar age explain variance in game performance of youth soccer athletes |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8834799/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35162155 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031138 |
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