Training sport in open-closed typology on cognitive function by controlling the role of cardiorespiratory fitness

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant professor, Department of Motor Behavior and Sport Events Management, Faculty of Sports Sciences, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran.

2 Department of Motor Behavior and Sport Events Management, Faculty of Sports Sciences, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran.

10.22038/JFMH.2025.86994.3233

Abstract

Introduction: Evidence suggests that open-skill and closed-skill sports may affect cognitive functions differently. This research aimed to examine the effects of open and closed skill exercises on the executive functions (working memory, attention) of young girls, while controlling for cardiorespiratory fitness.
 
Materials and Methods: This study was conducted from October 2023 to January 2024 in one of the indoor sports halls of Urmia University. Using convenience sampling, 60 female undergraduate students were recruited and randomly assigned to three equal groups: control, closed skill, and open skill sports. The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) and the N-back test were used to assess attention and working memory. Participants performed their specific training intervention for 10 weeks, with two 60-minute sessions per week. Data were analyzed using paired t-tests and ANCOVA in SPSS 26.
 
Results: The results showed significant improvement in working memory and attention in the open and closed skill training groups (P< 0.05). After controlling for the effect of cardiorespiratory fitness, the open skill group outperformed both closed skill and control groups in memory and attention (P< 0.05).  Additionally, attention in the closed skill group was significantly better than in the control group (P< 0.05), while memory differences were not significant (P> 0.05).
 
Conclusion: The results suggest that open and closed skill sports can significantly improve cognitive functions; but when controlling the cardiorespiratory fitness, open skill sports appear to have a more pronounced effect.

Keywords

References

  1. Chen W, Gu X, Chen J, Wang X. Association of cardiorespiratory fitness and cognitive function with psychological well-being in school-aged children. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2022; 19(3): 1434.
  2. Norris T, Mitchell JJ, Blodgett JM, Hamer M, Pinto Pereira SM. Does cardiorespiratory fitness mediate or moderate the association between mid-life physical activity and cognitive function? Findings from the 1958 British birth cohort study. medRxiv 2023: 2023.11. 15.23298607.
  3. Formenti D, Trecroci A, Duca M, Cavaggioni L, D’Angelo F, Passi A, et al. Differences in inhibitory control and motor fitness in children practicing open and closed skill sports. Sci Rep 2021; 11(1): 1-9.
  4. Ballester R, Huertas F, Molina E, Sanabria D. Sport participation and vigilance in children: Influence of different sport expertise. J Sport Health Sci 2018; 7(4): 497-504.
  5. Zotcheva E, Bergh S, Selbæk G, Krokstad S, Håberg AK, Strand BH, et al. Midlife physical activity, psychological distress, and dementia risk: The HUNT study. J Alzheimers Dis 2018; 66(2): 825-33.
  6. Livingston G, Huntley J, Sommerlad A, Ames D, Ballard C, Banerjee S, et al. Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2020 report of the Lancet Commission. Lancet 2020; 396(10248): 413-46.
  7. Cheng L, Tian W, Mu H. Effects of aerobic combined with resistance exercise on cardiorespiratory fitness and cardiometabolic health in breast cancer survivors: A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression. Heliyon 2024; 10(4): e26318.
  8. Schmidt RA, Wrisberg CA. Motor learning and performance: A situation-based learning approach. 4th ed. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics; 2008.
  9. Galligan F. Acquiring skill. Advanced PE for Edexcel. Heinemann: Bath Press; 2000.
  10. Furley P, Memmert D. Studying cognitive adaptations in the field of sport: Broad or narrow transfer? A comment on Allen, Fioratou, and McGeorge. Percept Mot Skills 2011; 113(2): 481-8.
  11. Ren S, Shi P, Feng X, Zhang K, Wang W. Executive function strengths in athletes: A systematic review and meta‐analysis. Brain Behav 2025; 15(1): e70212.
  12. Tinôco MA, Nascimento MdM, Marques A, Gouveia ÉR, Miguel S, Santos F, et al. The relationship between physical fitness and cognitive functions in older people: A systematic review. Sustainability 2023; 15(23): 16314.
  13. Capio CM, Mendoza NB, Jones RA, Masters RS, Lee K. The contributions of motor skill proficiency to cognitive and social development in early childhood. Sci Rep 2024; 14(1): 27956.
  14. Bègue I, Elandaloussi Y, Delavari F, Cao H, Moussa-Tooks A, Roser M, et al. The cerebellum and cognitive function: Anatomical evidence from a transdiagnostic sample. Cerebellum 2024; 23(4): 1399-410.
  15. Heck DH, Fox MB, Correia Chapman B, McAfee SS, Liu Y. Cerebellar control of thalamocortical circuits for cognitive function: A review of pathways and a proposed mechanism. Front Syst Neurosci 2023; 17: 1126508.
  16. Kronman CA, Kern KL, Nauer RK, Dunne MF, Storer TW, Schon K. Cardiorespiratory fitness predicts effective connectivity between the hippocampus and default mode network nodes in young adults. Hippocampus 2020; 30(5): 526-41.
  17. Perrone S, Rinaldi L, Gatti D, Girelli L. Temporal perception in closed-skill sports: An experimental study on expert swimmers and runners. Psychol Sport Exerc 2023; 69: 102500.
  18. Noh K, Baumgartner NW, Onbasi SI, Kao S-C. The relationship of aerobic fitness with verbal and spatial working memory: An ERP study. Prog Brain Res 2024; 286: 211-34.
  19. Petros B, Ploutarhos S, Vasilios B, Vasiliki M, Konstantinos T, Stamatia P, et al. The effect of IAAF Kids Athletics on the physical fitness and motivation of elementary school students in track and field. J Phys Educ Sport 2016; 16(3): 882.
  20. Huang M-Y, Tu H-Y, Wang W-Y, Chen J-F, Yu Y-T, Chou C-C. Effects of cooperative learning and concept mapping intervention on critical thinking and basketball skills in elementary school. Thinking skills and creativity 2017; 23: 207-16.
  21. Kane MJ, Conway AR, Miura TK, Colflesh GJ. Working memory, attention control, and the N-back task: A question of construct validity. J Experim Psychol 2007; 33(3): 615.
  22. Dehn MJ. Working memory and academic learning: Assessment and intervention. New York: John Wiley and Sons; 2011.
  23. Jones MR, Katz B, Buschkuehl M, Jaeggi SM, Shah P. Exploring n-back cognitive training for children with ADHD. J Attent Disord 2020; 24(5): 704-19.
  24. Jalilvand M. [The effect of web-based aerobic exercise on working memory in older women: The importance of being active in the covid-19 pandemic period]. The neuroscience journal of Shefaye Khatam 2021; 9(3): 36-44. (Persian)
  25. Cornblatt BA, Risch NJ, Faris G, Friedman D, Erlenmeyer-Kimling L. The Continuous Performance Test, identical pairs version (CPT-IP): I. New findings about sustained attention in normal families. Psychiatr Res 1988; 26(2): 223-38.
  26. Chiu E-C, Lee S-C. Test–retest reliability of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in people with schizophrenia. Disabil Rehabil 2021; 43(7): 996-1000.
  27. Pourghavami T. [The effect of performing physical education classes in the morning and afternoon on some physical abilities in high school girl students 15-18 years old]. MS. Dissertation. Sport Physiology University of Shahid Rajaee, 2009. (Persian)
  28. Heilmann F, Weinberg H, Wollny R. The impact of practicing open-vs. closed-skill sports on executive functions—A meta-analytic and systematic review with a focus on characteristics of sports. Brain Sci 2022; 12(8): 1071.
  29. Lai J, Zhang Z, Ni G, Luo Y. The influence of open-skill and closed-skill sports on executive functions: A systematic review. Br J Hosp Med (Lond) 2024; 85(7): 1-16.
  30. Koch P, Krenn B. Executive functions in elite athletes–Comparing open-skill and closed-skill sports and considering the role of athletes' past involvement in both sport categories. Psychol Sport Exerc 2021;55:101925.
  31. Wang J-G, Cai K-L, Liu Z-M, Herold F, Zou L, Zhu L-N, et al. Effects of mini-basketball training program on executive functions and core symptoms among preschool children with autism spectrum disorders. Brain Sci 2020; 10(5): 263.
  32. Aly M, Alzahrani T, Fakehy M, Abass M, Mohamed S. Motor skill experience modulates attentional processing regardless of open-or closed-skill types: An ERP study. Front Psychol 2024; 15: 1460684.
  33. Li Y-f, Gao T, Luo L-p, He S. Comparative effects of open-skill and closed-skill sports on executive function in university students: a 16-week quasi-experimental study. Front Psychol 2024; 15: 1457449.
  34. Roell L, Fischer T, Keeser D, Papazov B, Lembeck M, Papazova I, et al. Effects of aerobic exercise on hippocampal formation volume in people with schizophrenia–a systematic review and meta-analysis with original data from a randomized-controlled trial. Psychol Med 2024; 54(15): 4009-20.
  35. Soshi T, Andersson M, Kawagoe T, Nishiguchi S, Yamada M, Otsuka Y, et al. Prefrontal plasticity after a 3-month exercise intervention in older adults relates to enhanced cognitive performance. Cereb Cortex 2021; 31(10): 4501-17.
  36. Wang YH, Zhou HH, Luo Q, Cui S. The effect of physical exercise on circulating brain‐derived neurotrophic factor in healthy subjects: A meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials. Brain Behav 2022; 12(4): e2544.
  37. Zhou B, Wang Z, Zhu L, Huang G, Li B, Chen C, et al. Effects of different physical activities on brain-derived neurotrophic factor: A systematic review and bayesian network meta-analysis. Front Aging Neurosci 2022; 14: 981002.
  38. Marvel CL, Morgan OP, Kronemer SI. How the motor system integrates with working memory. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2019; 102: 184-94.
  39. Russo G, Bigliassi M, Ceciliani A, Tessari A. Exploring the interplay between sport modality and cognitive function in open-and closed-skill athletes. Psychol Sport Exerc 2022; 61: 102186.
  40. Chueh T-Y, Huang C-J, Hsieh S-S, Chen K-F, Chang Y-K, Hung T-M. Sports training enhances visuo-spatial cognition regardless of open-closed typology. Peer J 2017; 5: e3336.
  41. Netz Y, Dwolatzky T, Zinker Y, Argov E, Agmon R. Aerobic fitness and multidomain cognitive function in advanced age. Int Psychogeriatr 2011; 23(1): 114-24.
Fundamentals of Mental Health
Volume 27, Issue 5
September and October 2025
Pages 313-321

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics