Sport expertise: the cognitive advantage.

The purpose of this article is to illustrate the significance of the cognitive system in sport expertise. Consideration of visual-perceptual abilities, along with cognitive factors and their relationship with sport expertise, suggest that level of sport performance can be reliably differentiated on several cognitive dimensions. Information is given concerning the cognitive requirements of sports skills. It is argued that although visual-perceptual abilities are inherent in all levels of sport performance, cognitive factors are essential for sport expertise.