Response suppression and decision-making in association football referees

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Sports Science
• Motor Control

Background:

• Inhibitory control is a key executive function influencing information processing and behavior.
• This function is hypothesized to be critical for decision-making in sports contexts.
• Understanding inhibitory control in sports referees is vital for performance analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between inhibitory control and decision-making in football referees.
• To compare inhibitory control and decision-making performance across different expertise levels.
• To explore the relationship between response suppression and referee decision accuracy.

Main Methods:

• Employed the Stop-Signal Task (SST) to measure response suppression.
• Utilized a video-based task to assess football referees' decision-making.
• Compared 24 referees from recreational and sub-elite levels of the Spanish Football Federation.

Main Results:

• No significant differences in decision-making outcomes or reaction/decision times between expertise levels.
• Sub-elite referees demonstrated superior inhibitory control, indicated by lower Stop-Signal Reaction Time (SSRT).
• Referees with higher response suppression capacity made more accurate disciplinary decisions.

Conclusions:

• Response suppression, a component of inhibitory control, is important for football referees' cognitive skills.
• A subtle association exists between response suppression and decision-making accuracy in referees.
• Future research should explore targeted training to enhance response suppression for improved in-game performance.