Cognition and Performance in Sport Flashcards
(14 cards)
Define cognitive ability in the context of sport.
Cognitive ability in sport refers to how athletes process, store, and use information to make decisions. It includes processing speed, attentional control, memory, and decision-making efficiency.
List and explain three key components of cognitive processing in sport.
Processing Speed – How quickly information is handled. 2. Capacity – Number of items processed simultaneously. 3. Efficiency – Success rate in tasks like problem-solving or decisions.
What cognitive tasks were used in Mackenzie et al. (2021) to assess attention?
(MOA, MOT, CPST)
Multiple Object Avoidance (MOA), Multiple Object Tracking (MOT), and a Cognitive Processing Speed task.
Summarise the findings of Memmert (2006) on divided attention.
Expert athletes outperformed sub-elite and non-athletes in multiple object tracking tasks, showing superior ability to track multiple objects and ignore distractions.
What is Peak Alpha Frequency (PAF), and why is it important in sport?
PAF is a brainwave frequency linked to spatial attention. Faster PAF in athletes may explain superior object-tracking and environmental awareness.
What did Mackenzie et al. (2024) conclude about PAF in athletes?
Athletes exhibited higher resting PAF, which partially explained their superior tracking ability, suggesting a neurocognitive advantage.
What is the Quiet Eye (QE) hypothesis in sport?
QE refers to the final visual fixation before performing a movement. Longer QE duration is linked to better performance (Vickers, 1996).
What evidence challenges the Quiet Eye hypothesis?
Oudejans et al. (2002) found that occluding vision 350ms before movement did not affect performance, questioning QE’s necessity.
What is anticipation in sport, and what did Land & McLeod (2000) find?
Anticipation is predicting future events (e.g., ball trajectory). Experts had quicker reaction times (0.14s) than novices (>0.2s).
Describe Endsley’s (1995) three levels of Situation Awareness (SA).
- Perception – Recognising elements in the environment. 2. Comprehension – Understanding their meaning. 3. Projection – Predicting future states.
How is Situation Awareness measured in sport?
Through SAGAT (real-time questioning) or the ‘What Happens Next?’ method using freeze-frame prediction tasks.
What did Huffman et al. (2022) find about SA in athletes?
More experienced athletes showed higher SA, but evidence directly linking SA to performance is limited due to measurement challenges.
What is the ‘chicken and egg’ problem in sport cognition?
It’s the uncertainty over whether sport enhances cognition or cognitively advanced individuals are drawn to sport.
Explain the relationship between scanning frequency and performance.
Higher scanning frequency (more eye movements) is associated with better performance, but it’s unclear if scanning causes expertise or results from it.
