Characteristics of EEG activity in soccer players' alerting effects under different cues

Previous studies have found a positive correlation between athletic expertise and the alerting effect; however, few studies have investigated these associations among soccer players. This study employed an alerting task to compare the alerting effect between elite soccer players and novices. We report an ERP study involving 68 participants, which allows us to reexamine the mechanisms underlying alerting. We observed that elite athletes had significantly shorter reaction times on both dual-cue and no-cue trials compared to novices, and found that elite athletes' alerting network test scores were significantly higher. Elite soccer players generally exhibited faster reactions, and athletic expertise was positively correlated with cognitive performance. Further analysis revealed that, for elite athletes, the N1 peak amplitude evoked by dual-cue conditions in the central, parietal, parieto-occipital, and occipital regions was larger than that of novices; a similar pattern was observed in the central region for no-cue conditions. For dual-cue conditions, the parietal, parieto-occipital, and occipital regions exhibited smaller N1 peak amplitudes; no between-group differences were found in N1 latency. It was also found that, for the dual-cue condition, elite athletes exhibited smaller P2 peak amplitudes in the frontal, fronto-central, and central regions compared to novices. For the dual-cue condition, the prefrontal, frontal, fronto-central, and central regions exhibited larger P2 peak amplitudes. Additionally, the P2 latency for the dual-cue condition was earlier than for the no-cue condition, though no intergroup differences were observed. The results indicate that elite soccer players exhibit significant behavioral and neurophysiological advantages, further demonstrating that the enhancement of N1 and the attenuation of P2 are associated with soccer skill level. Elite soccer players exhibited larger N1 amplitudes and smaller P2 amplitudes in response to both dual-cue and no-cue stimuli. In summary, this study confirms that elite soccer players possess dual advantages in alerting function, providing new empirical evidence for understanding the neuroplasticity mechanisms by which long-term athletic training shapes cognitive function.