ArticleFrontiers in psychology2020
Deliberate Soccer Practice Modulates Attentional Functioning in Children.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Executive Function Strengths in Athletes: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Brain and behavior · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of football training on cognitive performance in children and adolescents: a meta-analytic review.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Pooled it
- The impact of after-school soccer exercises on inhibitory control function in children aged 8-11: an fNIRS study.BMC pediatrics · 2026Trial
- Fostering Holistic Development with a Designed Multisport Intervention in Physical Education: A Class-Randomized Cross-Over Trial.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Trial
- The effect of taekwondo structured training on attention in 7-8-year-old children: a randomized controlled trial.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2026Article
- Age-related differences and discrepancies between objective and self-assessed executive functions in youth academy footballers.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Article
- The role of cerebellar-cortical connectivity in modulating attentional abilities: insight from football athletes.Behavioral and brain functions : BBF · 2025Article
- Gross-Motor Coordination and Executive Functions Development in Soccer and Artistic Gymnastics Preadolescent Female Athletes.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2025Article
- Extracurricular physical exercise and self-education expectations among Chinese teenagers.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Association between the attentional network efficiency and change of direction speed ability in young male Indian footballers.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Article
- Exploring the dynamics of prefrontal cortex in the interaction between orienteering experience and cognitive performance by fNIRS.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Effect of conscious conflict on the subliminal perception of table tennis players: from the electrophysiological evidence of ERP.Cognitive neurodynamics · 2024Article
- Dual-task costs in speed tasks: a comparison between elite ice hockey, open-skill and closed-skill sports athletes.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- The effects of football juggling learning on executive function and brain functional connectivity.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2024Article
- Developing integrative practice on basic soccer skills to stimulate cognitive promotion for children and adolescents.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Effects of fancy rope-skipping on motor coordination and selective attention in children aged 7-9 years: a quasi-experimental study.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Optimizing Fine Motor Coordination, Selective Attention and Reaction Time in Children: Effect of Combined Accuracy Exercises and Visual Art Activities.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Motor skills and cognitive benefits in children and adolescents: Relationship, mechanism and perspectives.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Review
- On the Playing Field to Improve: A Goal for Autism.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The main purpose of this study was to explore the association between the regular practice of open-skill sports (i.e., soccer) and executive control, along with other attentional functions (i.e., alerting and orienting) during preadolescence. The study was conducted on 131 participants (70 non-athletes and 61 soccer players). To measure cognitive performance, participants performed the Attentional Network Test-Interactions (ANT-I) task. Compared to non-athletes, soccer players showed overall faster responses and better executive control (e.g., reduced interference from distractors). Overall, our results provide new empirical evidence supporting the positive association between regular sports practice and cognitive performance, and more specifically executive functions. However, is important to note that the relationship between regular sport practice and cognition is complex and multifactorial. Our findings can be partly explained by the "cardiovascular fitness hypothesis" and the "cognitive component skills approach," suggesting that an externally paced sport environment with high physical fitness and perceptual-cognitive demands may be an appropriate setting to optimize the development of cognitive functioning during early adolescence.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.