A comparative study on executive function of adolescent athletes in different winter sports

To explore the differential characteristics of executive function among adolescent athletes in three winter sports (ice hockey, figure skating, and speed skating), and to analyze the correlation between training experience and each subcomponent of executive function.

A convenience sampling method was adopted to select 199 adolescent winter sport athletes in Chengdu, Sichuan Province as participants (92 ice hockey athletes, 39 figure skating athletes, and 68 speed skating athletes). The Flanker task, 2-back task, and More-odd shifting task were used to assess the athletes' inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility, respectively. One-way ANOVA, generalized linear model (control variables included age, gender, training experience, body mass index, family economic status and negative emotions) and partial Pearson correlation analysis were used for data analysis.

Ice hockey athletes exhibited significantly shorter response times than speed skating athletes under both congruent (β = -90.03, P = 0.012) and incongruent conditions (β = -83.38, P = 0.010). Figure skating athletes had significantly lower accuracy than speed skating athletes under the congruent condition (β = -7.60, P = 0.011), and their accuracy was also lower than that of ice hockey athletes (P = 0.021). The accuracy of both ice hockey (β = 5.75, P = 0.018) and figure skating athletes (β = 7.57, P = 0.009) was significantly higher than that of speed skating athletes. Figure skating athletes showed significantly better performance in response time than speed skating athletes under the size shifting (β = -148.01, P < 0.001) and parity shifting conditions (β = -111.49, P = 0.011), and their response time under the size shifting condition was shorter than that of ice hockey athletes (P = 0.036). Ice hockey athletes had a significantly shorter response time than speed skating athletes under the size-parity shifting condition (β = -170.49, P = 0.004). In addition, no significant correlation was found between training years and executive function (P > 0.05).

There were significant sport-specific differences in the executive function performance of adolescent athletes in different winter sports. This study can provide preliminary reference evidence and testable research hypotheses for subsequent research on specialized training optimization, cognitive intervention development and athletic talent identification among adolescent winter sport athletes.