Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Cognition
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1407583

The effect of chess on cognition: a graph theory study on cognitive data

Provisionally accepted
Lissett Gonzalez-Burgos Lissett Gonzalez-Burgos 1Candida Lozano-Rodriguez Candida Lozano-Rodriguez 2Yaiza Molina Yaiza Molina 3Eloy Garcia-Cabello Eloy Garcia-Cabello 3Ramon Aciego de Mendoza Lugo Ramon Aciego de Mendoza Lugo 2Jose Barroso Jose Barroso 3Daniel Ferreira Daniel Ferreira 3,4*
  • 1 Departamento de Psicología Clínica, Psicobiología y Metodología, Facultad de Psicología y Logopedia, Universidad de La Laguna (ULL), Campus de Guajara. 38071 San Cristóbal de La Laguna (Tenerife), Spain
  • 2 Departamento de Psicología Evolutiva y de la Educación, Facultad de Psicología y Logopedia, Universidad de La Laguna (ULL), Campus de Guajara. 38071 San Cristóbal de La Laguna (Tenerife), Spain
  • 3 Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Fernando Pessoa Canarias, Las Palmas, Spain
  • 4 Division of Clinical Geriatrics, Center for Alzheimer Research, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences, and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    We aimed to advance our understanding of the effect of chess on cognition by expanding previous univariate studies with the use of graph theory on cognitive data. Specifically, we investigated the cognitive connectome of adult chess players.We included 19 chess players and 19 controls with ages between 39 and 69 years. Univariate analysis and graph theory included 27 cognitive measures representing multiple cognitive domains and subdomains. Graph analysis included global and nodal measures of integration, segregation, and centrality. We also performed an analysis of community structures to gain an additional understanding of the cognitive architecture of chess players.The analysis of global graph measures showed that chess players had a higher local efficiency than controls at the cost of a lower global efficiency, which did not permeate segregation aspects of their connectome. The nodal graph measures showed that executive/attention/processing speed and visuoconstructive nodes had a central role in the connectome of chess players. The analysis of communities showed that chess players had a slightly reorganized cognitive architecture into three modules. These graph theory findings were in the context of better cognitive performance in chess players than controls in visuospatial abilities.We conclude that the cognitive architecture of chess players is slightly reorganized into functionally and anatomically coherent modules reflecting a distinction between visual, verbal,

    Keywords: Chess, Neuropsychology, graph theory, connectome, modularity, Efficiency

    Received: 27 Mar 2024; Accepted: 29 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Gonzalez-Burgos, Lozano-Rodriguez, Molina, Garcia-Cabello, Aciego de Mendoza Lugo, Barroso and Ferreira. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Daniel Ferreira, Division of Clinical Geriatrics, Center for Alzheimer Research, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences, and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.