The effect of athletic specialization on the speed of decision-making during motor response

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the impact of sport specialization on decision-making during motor responses. To achieve this, three sports, similar in terms of physical and physiological demands but differing in cognitive requirements, were selected: athletics, gymnastics, and boxing. Each sport had a distinct group of athletes, representing an experimental group and a control group comprised of first-year physical education students with no prior experience in sports. All groups underwent two types of cognitive tasks: one simple and the other complex. The results showed that practicing gymnastics and athletics, even at a high level, did not develop decision-making speed due to the routine nature of the skills. This explains the inability of gymnasts and athletes to adapt to progressing from a simple cognitive task to a complex one. In contrast, decision-making speed improved in boxing, as boxers were the fastest to react, regardless of the task's difficulty, demonstrating a high capacity to adapt to task complexity. This high level of decision-making speed during motor responses observed in boxers stems from the constant need to process information and make immediate decisions under high time pressure and in a constantly changing environment. The researcher recommended the necessity of adopting diverse methods and means in training sports with a fixed environment, such as athletics and gymnastics, in order to ensure the integrated motor and cognitive development necessary for the athlete's career path.