Cognitive stability under increasing load in esports players: behavioral evidence relevant to fatigue-related performance research

Esports places sustained demands on attention and cognitive control, making it a suitable model for examining cognitive functioning under high load. The present study tested whether esports players at different expertise levels exhibit distinct patterns of cognitive task performance, particularly in terms of performance stability and processing efficiency under increasing cognitive load. Sixty participants were categorized into novices, amateurs, and experts. Participants completed a multiple object tracking task (2-, 3-, and 4- target conditions) and an n-back task (0-back and 3-back conditions). In the multiple objects tracking task, accuracy declined with increasing target load across all groups, with significant effects of group, F(2, 57) = 101.08, p < 0.001, η p ² = 0.780, target load, F(2, 114) = 456.90, p < 0.001, η p ² = 0.889, and group × target load interaction, F(4, 114) = 13.52, p < 0.001, η p ² = 0.322. Experts showed higher overall accuracy and a smaller performance decline as load increased. In the n-back task, Experts responded faster and more accurately than the other groups, with significant group effects for reaction time, F(2, 57) = 56.57, p < 0.001, η p ² = 0.685, and accuracy, F(2, 57) = 62.13, p < 0.001, η p ² = 0.667. The inverse efficiency score analysis also showed a significant group effect, F(2, 57) = 98.21, p < 0.001, η p ² = 0.775, providing cautious support for an efficiency-based interpretation. These results indicate that esports experience is associated with distinct patterns of task performance under high cognitive load. Greater experience was linked to more stable tracking performance and better speed - accuracy performance in the working memory task. Because mental fatigue was not directly assessed, these findings should be interpreted as indirect behavioral evidence relevant to future research on fatigue-related performance decline, rather than as direct evidence of reduced fatigue vulnerability or improved cognitive health.