Athletes Top Students in Test of Cognitive Functions

English Premier League soccer players, NHL hockey players, France’s Top 14 club rugby players and even elite amateur athletes have better developed cognitive functions than the average university student, according to a perception study by Professor Jocelyn Faubert of the University of Montreal’s School of Optometry. The study demonstrates a possible outcome of the increased cortical thickness that has been found in areas of trained athletes’ brains. It also gives researchers new avenues for exploring the treatment of patients who have issues with attention, such as the elderly.

“Study participants were asked to describe a series of simulated objects moving through three dimensions,” Faubert explains. “Although the context had nothing to do with any specific sport, we found that professional athletes were able to process the visual scenes much better than amateur athletes, who were, in turn, better than the students.”The cognitive requirements for correctly interpreting the abstract moving scenes parallel situations such as driving, crossing the street or, case in point, performing sport. “It would appear that athletes are able to hyper-focus their attention to enhance learning, which is key to their abilities,” Faubert says. For more information, click here to read the full release.