A recently published meta-analysis has found that athletes process sports-related information more effectively than non-athletes. The analysis included data from 21 studies with a total of 1,455 participants. The results indicated that athletes possess superior working memory compared to non-athletes, with this advantage being even more significant when athletes are compared to inactive individuals.
In the field of cognitive science, there’s been growing interest in how sports expertise correlates with working memory. Until now, however, no meta-analysis has looked specifically at how athletes’ working memory compares to that of non-athletes. Researchers from the Active Mind group at the University of Jyväskylä’s Department of Psychology aimed to conduct a comprehensive comparison of working memory performance between these two groups, also examining how different sports and performance levels might influence the outcomes.
The results demonstrated that athletes consistently outperformed non-athletes in working memory across various sports and skill levels. This advantage was particularly evident when comparing athletes to a sedentary group, as opposed to when sedentary individuals were included in a broader non-athlete category. Doctoral researcher Chenxiao Wu noted that the majority of studies in this meta-analysis had strong methodologies with minimal bias and showed no signs of publication bias.
These results indicate a reliable link between participation in sports and enhanced working memory, while a lack of physical activity seems to correlate with diminished cognitive abilities. Piia Astikainen, an associate professor and the head of the research team, mentioned that their previous research has examined how aging impacts cognitive and brain function, revealing that an active lifestyle can alleviate some adverse effects of aging. The current findings regarding athletes further reinforce the idea that engaging in sports positively influences cognitive capabilities and underscores the significant role of physical activity in enhancing brain health.
This study is part of the SportsFace project, which encompasses the PhD research of Chenxiao Wu under the supervision of associate professor Piia Astikainen. The SportsFace initiative aims to investigate how sports influence cognitive function and the perception of faces through electrophysiological assessments and behavioral performance metrics. The insights gained will deepen our understanding of the interplay between sports, working memory, and social cognition.
