Department of Movement, Human and Health Sciences, University of Rome "Foro Italico", 00135, Rome, Italy.
Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, 33100, Udine, Italy.
Psychol Sport Exerc. 2023 Jan;64:102302. doi: 10.1016/j.psychsport.2022.102302. Epub 2022 Oct 6.
In this study, we aimed at evaluating the effects of cognitive-motor dual-task training (CMDT) on sport-specific athletic performance and cognitive functions of semi-elite basketball players. Further, we investigated the CMDT effects on reactive brain processing by employing event-related potential (ERP) analysis.
A randomized controlled trial was conducted including 52 young semi-elite basketball players (28 females mean age 16.3 ± 1.1 years) who were randomly assigned into an experimental (Exp) group executing the CMDT and a control (Con) group performing standard motor training.
Athletes' sport-specific performance was evaluated with dribbling tests before and after a five-week training. Cognitive performance was assessed by measuring speed and accuracy in a discrimination response task. Brain activity associated with sensory processing, selective attention, and decision-making was measured through the P1, N1, and P3 components. The CMDT consisted of simultaneous execution of dribbling exercises and cognitive tasks which were realized using interactive devices located around the athlete on the basket court. Data were submitted to a mixed analysis of variance.
Both groups showed some improvements from pre-to post-tests, but the Exp group improved basket-specific performance by 13% more than the Con group; in addition, the cognitive performance also improved more in the Exp group (25.8% in accuracy and 5.4% response speed). According to the EEG results, training did not affect sensory processing and attentional processing which were equally increased after both kinds of training; however, decision-making processes were specifically affected by the experimental training.
This study confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed CMDT protocol on both sport-specific and cognitive performance of basketball players and showed that the neural basis of these benefits may be mediated by more intense decisional processing allowing faster connection between sensory encoding and response execution.
本研究旨在评估认知-运动双重任务训练（CMDT）对半精英篮球运动员专项运动表现和认知功能的影响。此外，我们通过事件相关电位（ERP）分析研究了 CMDT 对反应性脑处理的影响。
进行了一项随机对照试验，纳入了 52 名年轻的半精英篮球运动员（女性 28 名，平均年龄 16.3±1.1 岁），他们被随机分配到实验组（执行 CMDT）和对照组（进行标准运动训练）。
运动员的专项运动表现通过运球测试进行评估，在五周训练前后进行。认知表现通过测量辨别反应任务的速度和准确性来评估。通过 P1、N1 和 P3 成分测量与感觉处理、选择性注意和决策相关的大脑活动。CMDT 包括同时执行运球练习和认知任务，这些任务是通过位于篮球场上运动员周围的互动设备来实现的。数据提交给混合方差分析。
两组均显示出从测试前到测试后的一些改善，但实验组的专项表现提高了 13%，比对照组提高更多；此外，实验组的认知表现也提高了更多（准确性提高 25.8%，反应速度提高 5.4%）。根据 EEG 结果，训练并没有影响感觉处理和注意力处理，这两种处理在两种训练后都得到了同等的提高；然而，决策过程特别受到实验训练的影响。
本研究证实了所提出的 CMDT 方案对篮球运动员专项运动表现和认知表现的有效性，并表明这些益处的神经基础可能是通过更强烈的决策处理来介导的，从而使感觉编码和反应执行之间更快地建立联系。
