Key result
Adaptive working memory training significantly improved working memory capacity, quiet eye offset, and tennis volley performance under high-pressure conditions compared to an active control.
Why the study?
Does adaptive working memory training improve attentional control and motor performance under pressure in tennis players?
RCT (n=30)
Pseudo-random
No
Does adaptive working memory training improve attentional control and motor performance under pressure in tennis players?
Adaptive working memory training improves attentional control and protects against anxiety-induced performance breakdowns in competitive motor tasks.
Hypothesis-generating for WM training in athletes; larger trials needed before practice adoption.
Optimum levels of attentional control are essential to prevent athletes from experiencing performance breakdowns under pressure. The current study explored whether training attentional control using the adaptive dual n-back paradigm, designed to directly target processing efficiency of the main executive functions of working memory (WM), would result in transferrable effects on sports performance outcomes. A total of 30 tennis players were allocated to an adaptive WM training or active control group and underwent 10 days of training. Measures of WM capacity as well as performance and objective gaze indices of attentional control in a tennis volley task were assessed in low- and high-pressure posttraining conditions. Results revealed significant benefits of training on WM capacity, quiet eye offset, and tennis performance in the high-pressure condition. Our results confirm and extend previous findings supporting the transfer of cognitive training benefits to objective measures of sports performance under pressure.
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Ducrocq et al. (2017) conducted an RCT in Competitive anxiety in sports performance (n=30). Adaptive dual n-back working memory training vs. Non-adaptive dual 1-back control task was evaluated on Working memory capacity, quiet eye offset, and tennis volley performance under high pressure. Adaptive working memory training significantly improved working memory capacity, quiet eye offset, and tennis volley performance under high-pressure conditions compared to an active control.
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