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Beyond Performance: Cognitive Overload and Related Cognitive, Psychophysiological, and Performance States in
Maciej Lachowicz1,2, Dariusz Jamro3, Anna Zawadka2
1Department of Fundamentals of Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy, Wroclaw University of Health and Sport Sciences, 51-612 Wroclaw, Poland.
Medical Sciences (Basel, Switzerland)
|July 27, 2026
Summary
Cognitive overload in esports is a complex state influenced by game demands and player regulation. Future research needs multimodal models to understand performance decline and related states like stress and fatigue.
Area of Science:
- Esports research
- Performance psychology
- Cognitive science
Background:
- Competitive esports demands attention, affect, and psychophysiological regulation under pressure.
- Cognitive overload and related states are crucial but inconsistently defined in esports.
- Understanding these states is vital for player performance and well-being.
Purpose of the Study:
- To map empirical evidence on cognitive overload in competitive esports.
- To identify cognitive demands, psychophysiological/neurophysiological markers, coping strategies, and performance outcomes.
- To synthesize current knowledge on overload-related states in esports.
Main Methods:
- Scoping review following Joanna Briggs Institute and PRISMA-ScR guidelines.
- Searches conducted across major academic databases (Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, EBSCOhost).
- Included peer-reviewed empirical studies on competitive esports players with objective overload indicators.
Main Results:
- Forty-eight studies analyzed evidence across performance, stress, cardiometabolic load, workload, recovery, and neurophysiology.
- Commonly used measures include heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), EEG, cortisol, and in-game metrics.
- Measures were rarely integrated into comprehensive, multimodal models.
Conclusions:
- Cognitive overload in esports is a dynamic, multidimensional state.
- It arises from interactions between game demands, competition, player regulation, and performance.
- Future research requires genre-sensitive, multimodal models to differentiate workload, stress, fatigue, and performance decline.
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