Open vs. Closed Skill Sports and the Modulation of Inhibitory Control

Wang, Chun‐Hao; Chang, Che-Chien; Liang, Yen-Ming; Shih, Chun‐Ming; Chiu, Wen-Sheng; Tseng, Philip; Hung, Daisy L.; Tzeng, Ovid J. L.; Muggleton, Neil G.; Juan, Chi-Hung · 2013 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0055773

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Summary

This study investigates whether inhibitory control, the ability to suppress inappropriate prepotent actions, is differentially modulated by expertise in open-skill versus closed-skill sports. While previous research indicated that athletes generally possess superior inhibitory control, it remained unclear if this advantage persists in general cognitive tasks devoid of sport-specific contexts and whether it varies based on the type of sport. Open-skill sports, such as tennis, require rapid reactions to unpredictable, externally-paced environments, whereas closed-skill sports, such as swimming, involve predictable, self-paced environments. The authors hypothesized that tennis players would exhibit superior inhibitory control compared to swimmers and sedentary controls, even in a non-sport-specific task. To test this, the researchers compared 60 male university students divided into three groups: varsity tennis players, varsity swimmers, and sedentary non-athletic controls. The study utilized a stop-signal task (SST), a standard measure of inhibitory control, without any sport-specific design. Participants performed go trials, requiring a rapid key press, and stop trials, requiring the withholding of that response upon a signal. The primary dependent variable was the stop-signal reaction time (SSRT), which estimates the latency of the inhibitory process. The study controlled for potential confounding factors, including body mass index (BMI), training experience, estimated levels of physical activity, and aerobic fitness (VO2max). Data analysis involved one-way ANOVAs and hierarchical stepwise regression to isolate the effects of sport category from these physiological and experiential variables. The results demonstrated that tennis players had significantly shorter SSRTs (201.64 ms) compared to both swimmers (222.99 ms) and sedentary controls (227.47 ms). No significant difference in SSRT was found between swimmers and sedentary controls. This superiority in tennis players remained significant even after accounting for BMI, training duration, physical activity levels, and VO2max. There were no significant differences among the groups in go reaction times, error rates, or noncancelled response rates, indicating that the observed effect was specific to inhibitory control rather than general motor speed or attention. Additionally, while both athletic groups had significantly higher physical activity levels and aerobic fitness than controls, these metrics did not differ between tennis players and swimmers, further isolating the sport type as the differentiating factor. The findings suggest that fundamental inhibitory control is specifically enhanced by training in open-skill sports, which demand high perception-action coupling and rapid decision-making in dynamic environments. This indicates that the cognitive benefits of athletic training are not uniform but depend on the cognitive-motor demands of the specific sport. The study implies that sports involving both physical and cognitive demands, such as tennis, may serve as effective interventions for individuals with deficits in inhibitory control, offering a potential avenue for clinical or rehabilitative applications beyond traditional cognitive training.

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• executive function