The effect of chess on cognition: a graph theory study on cognitive data

Abstract

Objectives: We aimed to advance our understanding of the effect of chess on cognition by expanding previous univariate studies with the use of graph theory on cognitive data. Specifically, we investigated the cognitive connectome of adult chess players. Method: We included 19 chess players and 19 controls with ages between 39 and 69 years. Univariate analysis and graph theory included 27 cognitive measures representing multiple cognitive domains and subdomains. Graph analysis included global and nodal measures of integration, segregation, and centrality. We also performed an analysis of community structures to gain an additional understanding of the cognitive architecture of chess players. Results: The analysis of global graph measures showed that chess players had a higher local efficiency than controls at the cost of a lower global efficiency, which did not permeate segregation aspects of their connectome. The nodal graph measures showed that executive/attention/processing speed and visuoconstructive nodes had a central role in the connectome of chess players. The analysis of communities showed that chess players had a slightly reorganized cognitive architecture into three modules. These graph theory findings were in the context of better cognitive performance in chess players than controls in visuospatial abilities. Conclusion: We conclude that the cognitive architecture of chess players is slightly reorganized into functionally and anatomically coherent modules reflecting a distinction between visual, verbal, and executive/attention/processing speed-related functions, perhaps reminiscent of right hemisphere and left hemisphere subnetworks orchestrated by the frontal lobe and its white matter connections.