Effects of specialization in sport on perceptual – cognitive processes

This study was conducted to examine whether sports expertise is associated with superior performance in measurements related to different aspects of perception and cognition. For this purpose, it was investigated whether the perceptual and cognitive abilities of elite athletes and non-athletes differ. A total of 64 individuals, including 33 elite volleyball players (14 women and 19 men) and 31 sedentary (16 women and 15 men) whose age between 18 and 35, participated in the study voluntarily. After the participants filled out the personal information form, they completed the change detection test and visual working memory test performed in the computer environment. The stimuli used in the experiments were prepared by using the Adobe Photoshop program. Stimuli presentation and the recording of the responses were controlled by the OpenSesame 3.3.8 software. The data obtained as a result of the measurements were analyzed using the SPSS 22 program. In the change detection task, participants' correct response rates and response speed averages were evaluated using ANOVA for mixed factorial designs. In the visual working memory task, the working memory capacity was compared between experts and controls using an independent sample t-test. When the change detection task results are examined, the speed of detecting change is approximately 991 ms faster for elite athletes compared to the control group. When the working memory capacities investigated using the visual working memory task were compared, the average working memory capacity of elite athletes (x̄ = 1.16,SS = .46) was found to be statistically significantly higher than the mean of the control group (x̄ = .94, SD = .40). The results show that long-term intense exercises affect perceptual-cognitive processes and positively affect superior performance in cognitive tasks.