Abstract
Athletes must distribute their attention to many relevant cues during a match. Therefore, athletes’ ability to deal with dual-tasks may be different from the non-athlete population, demanding a deeper investigation within the sports domain. This study aimed to systematically review the acute and chronic effects of dual-tasks in motor and cognitive performances in athletes from different modalities. The search for articles followed all the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The keywords used were: “dual-task” OR “double task” OR “multi-task” OR “divided attention” OR “secondary task” OR “second task” AND “working memory” OR “visual” OR “decision making” OR “gaze behavior” OR “attention” AND “sports” OR “athletes” OR “players”. The Scopus, Pubmed, and Web of Science databases were screened for studies comparing single and dual-tasks, in which the participants were athletes competing at any level, and in which at least one of the following variables were investigated: working memory, decision-making, visual search behavior, perception, anticipation, attention, or motor tasks. Articles were screened using pre-defined selection criteria, and methodological quality was assessed by two researchers independently. Following the eligibility criteria, we included 18 articles in the review: 13 on the acute effects, and five on the chronic effects. This review showed that the acute effect of dual-tasks impairs the motor and cognitive performances of athletes (dual-task cost). However, training with dual-tasks (chronic effect) improved working memory skills and attentional control. We conclude that dual-tasks acutely and chronically impacts motor and cognitive performance.
Highlights
In open sports such as soccer, basketball, and handball, players’ ability to distribute their attention between different relevant cues in the environment is mandatory for successful decision-making [1]
In a soccer match, after receiving the ball, the player realizes that a teammate is in a good position and, decides to pass the ball to him, which is done with low attentional resources allocated in the motor execution
We could expect that the results reported for non-athletes would apply to the sports domain since the cognitive processes that support dual-task performance are present in both contexts [22,23], no previous study has attempted to summarize the available literature on this topic
Summary
In open sports such as soccer, basketball, and handball, players’ ability to distribute their attention between different relevant cues in the environment (e.g., ball, opponents, and teammates) is mandatory for successful decision-making [1]. The dual-process theory explains people’s ability to perform multiple tasks at a time and suggests that human behavior is controlled by two different information processing systems: automatic and controlled [3]. In a soccer match, after receiving the ball, the player realizes that a teammate is in a good position and, decides to pass the ball to him, which is done with low attentional resources allocated in the motor execution (type 1 processing). 6: Are theand main findings of the study clearlythe described?; col to compare performance between dual-tasks using formula ST represents the single-task performance and DT represen main outcomes?; Item 10: Have actual probability values been reported (e.g., 0.035 rather than
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