Cross effect of exercise, gender and level of sport expertise on cognition: Visual perception, information processing and motor response

Abstract

To address several recommendations proposing to cross the impact of different variables on cognitive performance, the objective of this study first is to examine the impact of physical exercise variables on cognitive tasks (visual perception, information processing and motor response) at different level of training. The study was carried out on a sample of 88 participants (experts: N = 29, advanced: N = 30, novices, n = 29) performed the coding decoding test, search symbol and the lead psychomotor tester, in order to assess the variations of cognitive profile, at rest and after bout of handball exercise. The results showed, a higher level of training corresponds to a higher level in visual perception with 301ms, motor reaction time with 170ms and choice reaction time with 472ms for the expert’s group, although novices have a greater range of improvement following the exercise with a respective improvement of 33% and 20.20% in search symbol and coding decoding and a respective decrease in visual perception time, motor response and choice reaction time by 16.18%, 14.42% and 14.10%. Also, the combination of the level of training and exercise attenuates differences on some sensorimotor speed performance between the two sexes. The cross effect affects positively but selectively on certain cognitive functions. Our findings enlighten the sport cognition relationship and suggest using physical and sport activity as a means of stimulating cognitive skills and student development in school and university training programs.