Does cognitive training improve athletic ability? If so, how much?

Question

Does cognitive training improve athletic ability?  If so, how much?

Dr. Dan Cohn, PsyD · Answer

So in my practice as a sports psychologist, I found that in the athletes that I've worked with and in some of the research that I've become familiar with, cognitive training does indeed improve athletic performance. To provide one example, mindfulness training, in terms of how to regulate one's attention, has been shown to improve accuracy in sports such as archery or riflery or putting in golf or free throw shooting in basketball. So the type of training affects different facets of athletic performance. But as a whole, yes, cognitive training does appear to improve athletic performance. And what I will say is the athletes who are training their mental, who are working on some sort of cognitive training, tend to have an edge over the athletes who are not.

Mike Ergo · Answer

Does cognitive training improve athletic ability? If so, how much? Hard to measure how much it improves, but what I can tell you this is that the people who are successful in the military, my background, were able to find a sense of acceptance and peace with discomfort. And the more you can do that, the higher your threshold for training and for performance on race day will be, or game day. So an example of how we can do that in our daily life is to take a cold shower for two minutes. And it's something we don't wanna do because you feel it, and this cold shower is cold by its very definition. And when we do that, we can create a space in our mind where we stop resisting discomfort and find a place of acceptance for it. And that's what separates okay from great athletes. That's what separates people who can hang until the conditions get tough for the people who can perform under any condition. And if you want that next step, then doing things like cold showers and other cognitive training strategies are where you want to go because it's really the mindset that drives us. It's the mindset of being able to perform under duress or stress, okay? So that is the key to unlocking really your greatest athletic potential.

Dr. Jada Jackson Hill · Answer

Cognitive training can potentially improve athletic performance by enhancing specific cognitive abilities that are relevant to sports. Here's how cognitive training can impact athletic ability. Number one, through attention and focus. So cognitive training exercises can enhance both attention and focus, which are crucial for athletes to maintain concentration during training or competitions. Number two, reaction time. So critical. Cognitive training improves an athlete's reaction time, enabling them to respond more quickly to stimuli such as the movements of opponents or sudden changes in environment. Number three, decision making. Cognitive training can enhance an athlete's decision making abilities, including the ability to analyze situations, weight options, and make optimal choices under pressure. Number three, working memory. This one is very important. Working memory refers to the ability to hold and manipulate information in mind. Cognitive training exercises that target working memory can enhance an athlete's capacity to process and to retain complex information. And this can lead to improved on-field decision making and tactical plans. And so another one is spatial awareness and visualization and even cognitive flexibility. So all of these elements can be increased for athletes when they engage in cognitive training.

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"Does cognitive training improve athletic ability? If so, how much?"