AUTHOR=Li Yu-fan , Gao Tianyu , Luo Li-peng , He Shan 

TITLE=Comparative effects of open-skill and closed-skill sports on executive function in university students: a 16-week quasi-experimental study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=15

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1457449

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1457449

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<sec id="sec1"><title>Introduction</title><p>Previous reviews have often concluded that open-skill sports are more effective at enhancing executive function (EF) than closed-skill sports. However, this conclusion may not hold for closed-skill sports with high cognitive demands, such as golf. This study aimed to compare the effects of football (open-skill) and golf (closed-skill) training on enhancing EF in university students.</p></sec><sec id="sec2"><title>Method</title><p>Using a quasi-experimental, pre-post test design, 63 male participants were assigned to three groups: football (<italic>n</italic> = 21), golf (<italic>n</italic> = 21), and a sedentary control group (<italic>n</italic> = 21). Over 16 weeks of training, the intervention groups engaged in four 90-min training sessions per week, while the control group attended one 80-min physical education class per week. Assessments were conducted before and after the intervention. EFs, including inhibition control and working memory, were assessed using the Flanker task and Corsi-block tapping task, respectively. Cardiovascular fitness (CRF) was measured by the multi-stage fitness test.</p></sec><sec id="sec3"><title>Results</title><p>The golf group showed significant improvements in inhibition control from pre- to post-intervention (<italic>p</italic> = 0.02, <italic>d</italic> = 0.26), while the football and control groups did not exhibit significant changes. Post-intervention comparisons indicated no significant differences in EF performance between the golf and football groups; however, both outperformed the control group (golf, <italic>p</italic> = 0.002, <italic>d</italic> = 0.99; football, <italic>p</italic> = 0.01, <italic>d</italic> = 0.67). No significant improvement was observed in working memory for any group. Additionally, changes in CRF were not significantly correlated with EF performance.</p></sec><sec id="sec4"><title>Conclusion</title><p>This study provides preliminary evidence that golf, a closed-skill sport with high cognitive demands, can effectively improve inhibitory control after 16 weeks of training. This improvement is comparable to that observed in football, an open-skill sport. The findings also suggest that the cognitive demands of the sports, rather than improvements in physical fitness, may be primarily responsible for the enhancements in EF.</p></sec>