Cognitive profile of young well-trained athletes with intellectual disabilities

Previous research has shown that cognitive and motor skills are related. The precise impact of cognitive impairment on sport proficiency, however, is unknown.

This study investigated group and individual differences in cognitive profiles in a large cohort of track and field athletes, basketball players, swimmers and table tennis players with (N=468) and without (N=162) intellectual disabilities (ID).

Based on the Cattell-Horn-Carroll Theory of Cognitive abilities, eight subtests were selected for inclusion in a generic cognitive test (GCT) to assess executive functions and cognitive abilities relevant to sport, i.e., fluid reasoning, visual processing, reaction and decision speed, short-term memory and processing speed.

Reliability coefficients for the subtests ranged between 0.25 and 0.88 respectively. Factor analysis revealed two clusters of subtests, i.e., a speed-based factor (simple and complex reaction time and simple and complex visual search) and a performance-based factor (Corsi Memory, Tower of London, WASI Block Design and Matrix Reasoning). After controlling for psychomotor speed, the group of ID-athletes scored significantly lower than athletes without ID on all the GCT subtests, except the complex visual search test. When cognitive profiles of individual ID- athletes were examined, some obtained higher scores than the average norm values in the reference population.

The GCT is currently administered as part of the classification process for athletes with ID who compete in the Paralympic Games. The results of this study indicate that the complex visual search and Tower of London test in the GCT should be reconsidered.