Department of Psychology and Social Work, Mid Sweden University, 83125 Östersund, Sweden.
Católica Research Centre for Psychological-Family and Social Wellbeing, Universidade Católica Portugesa, 1649-023 Lisboa, Portugal.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Jul 10;20(14):6340. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20146340.
The objective of this study was to revisit the question concerning whether athletes are better than non-athletes at fundamental cognitive abilities, such as inhibitory control, in addition to also focusing on motivational dispositions and possible sex differences. Adding the latter could be crucial since both inhibitory control and motivational dispositions, such as approach and avoidance, are central to goal-directed behavior.
This study's sample was composed of 93 participants (40 males): 29 biathletes; 30 alpine skiers; and 34 non-athletes. A non-sport-specific stop-signal task was used for the assessment of inhibitory control in terms of response inhibition, and the motivational dispositions were assessed with the BIS/BAS scales.
The results showed that there were no differences between the two different sports or non-athletes with regard to response inhibition. However, females showed significantly slower response inhibition than males ( = 0.018) and scored significantly higher on the trait variable BIS ( < 0.001).
The results from this study suggest that it might be meaningful to explore the contribution of sex differences and motivational dispositions on response inhibition in conjunction with different types of sports.
本研究旨在重新探讨运动员是否在基本认知能力（如抑制控制）方面优于非运动员，同时还关注动机倾向和可能存在的性别差异。加入后者可能至关重要，因为抑制控制和动机倾向（如趋近和回避）是目标导向行为的核心。
本研究的样本由 93 名参与者（40 名男性）组成：29 名冬季两项运动员；30 名高山滑雪运动员；34 名非运动员。使用非特定于运动的停止信号任务评估反应抑制的抑制控制能力，使用 BIS/BAS 量表评估动机倾向。
结果表明，在反应抑制方面，两种不同的运动或非运动员之间没有差异。然而，女性的反应抑制速度明显慢于男性（ = 0.018），特质变量 BIS 得分明显更高（ < 0.001）。
本研究结果表明，结合不同类型的运动，探索性别差异和动机倾向对反应抑制的贡献可能具有重要意义。
