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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Movement Science
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1460684

Motor skill experience modulates attentional processing regardless of open-closed typology: an ERP study

Provisionally accepted
Mohamed Aly Mohamed Aly 1*Turki Alzahrani Turki Alzahrani 2Sheref Mohamed Sheref Mohamed 1Mohamed Abass Mohamed Abass 1Mohammed Fakehy Mohammed Fakehy 3
  • 1 Faculty of Physical Education, Assiut University, Assiut 71515, Egypt
  • 2 Department of Sport Sciences, College of Education, Taif University, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia, Taif, Saudi Arabia
  • 3 College of Sport Sciences and Physical Activity, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

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

    Background: Attentional engagement, the ability to maintain focus on relevant tasks, plays a crucial role in optimizing human performance. Studies have shown that athletes exhibit superior attentional engagement compared to non-athletes; however, it remains unclear if these benefits persist in nonsport-related tasks or differ across types of sports expertise, such as open-skill versus closed-skill sports. Methods: Ninety-three young adults, divided into open-skill athletes (n = 31), closed-skill athletes (n = 31), and a control group (n = 31), completed an auditory oddball task while the P3 component of event-related potentials was measured to assess attentional processing. Aerobic fitness was assessed using the YMCA fitness test, and linear regression models, adjusted for confounders, examined the relationship between aerobic fitness and attentional processing. Results: Findings revealed that both open-and closed-skill athletes exhibited significantly larger P3 amplitudes than non-athletes, indicating enhanced attentional engagement. However, no significant differences in response time or response accuracy were observed between the groups. Hierarchical regression analysis further demonstrated a positive correlation between aerobic fitness and P3 amplitude, underscoring the role of aerobic fitness in cognitive processing. Conclusion: These findings suggest that participation in either open-or closed-skill sports can enhance attentional engagement beyond the sports context in healthy young adults, with aerobic fitness playing a key role in supporting cognitive performance. Additionally, this study extends previous findings from Western and Asian literature by providing evidence from an Egyptian sample, thereby supporting the generalizability of the cognitive benefits of aerobic fitness and sports participation across different cultural contexts.

    Keywords: aerobic fitness, Sports activity, open-skill exercise, closed-skill exercise, exercise mode, event-related potential

    Received: 08 Jul 2024; Accepted: 02 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Aly, Alzahrani, Mohamed, Abass and Fakehy. 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: Mohamed Aly, Faculty of Physical Education, Assiut University, Assiut 71515, Egypt

    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.