IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0144580.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cognitive Functions in Elite and Sub-Elite Youth Soccer Players Aged 13 to 17 Years

Author

Listed:
  • Barbara C H Huijgen
  • Sander Leemhuis
  • Niels M Kok
  • Lot Verburgh
  • Jaap Oosterlaan
  • Marije T Elferink-Gemser
  • Chris Visscher

Abstract

Soccer players are required to anticipate and react continuously in a changing, relatively unpredictable situation in the field. Cognitive functions might be important to be successful in soccer. The current study investigated the relationship between cognitive functions and performance level in elite and sub-elite youth soccer players aged 13–17 years. A total of 47 elite youth soccer players (mean age 15.5 years, SD = 0.9) and 41 sub-elite youth soccer players (mean age 15.2 years, SD = 1.2) performed tasks for “higher-level” cognitive functions measuring working memory (i.e., Visual Memory Span), inhibitory control (i.e., Stop-Signal Task), cognitive flexibility (i.e., Trail Making Test), and metacognition (i.e., Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System Design Fluency Test). “Lower-level” cognitive processes, i.e., reaction time and visuo-perceptual abilities, were also measured with the previous tasks. ANOVA’s showed that elite players outscored sub-elite players at the “higher-level” cognitive tasks only, especially on metacognition (p .05). In conclusion, elite youth soccer players have better inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, and especially metacognition than their sub-elite counterparts. However, when training hours are taken into account, differences between elite and sub-elite youth soccer players remain apparent on inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility in contrast to metacognition. This highlights the need for longitudinal studies to further investigate the importance of “higher-level” cognitive functions for talent identification, talent development and performance in soccer.

Suggested Citation

  • Barbara C H Huijgen & Sander Leemhuis & Niels M Kok & Lot Verburgh & Jaap Oosterlaan & Marije T Elferink-Gemser & Chris Visscher, 2015. "Cognitive Functions in Elite and Sub-Elite Youth Soccer Players Aged 13 to 17 Years," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(12), pages 1-13, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0144580
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0144580
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0144580
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0144580&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0144580?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Halim Hicheur & Alan Chauvin & Steve Chassot & Xavier Chenevière & Wolfgang Taube, 2017. "Effects of age on the soccer-specific cognitive-motor performance of elite young soccer players: Comparison between objective measurements and coaches’ evaluation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(9), pages 1-20, September.
    2. Ilona Bidzan-Bluma, 2021. "Twin-To-Twin Transfusion Syndrome Donor and Recipient and Their Subsequent Cognitive Functioning in Late Childhood as Juvenile Athletes—A Case Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-10, March.
    3. Fioretta Silvestri & Matteo Campanella & Maurizio Bertollo & Maicon Rodrigues Albuquerque & Valerio Bonavolontà & Fabrizio Perroni & Carlo Baldari & Laura Guidetti & Davide Curzi, 2023. "Acute Effects of Fitlight Training on Cognitive-Motor Processes in Young Basketball Players," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-14, January.
    4. Petra Pačesová, 2021. "Cognitive and Executive Functions of Young Men regarding Sport Activity and Personality Traits," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-9, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0144580. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.