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

This 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). We 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). We evaluated EF by administering a battery of validated tests of decision making, problem solving, and inhibition. We 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. Our 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.