Executive functions and successful behavior

Executive functions are the underlying mechanisms that drive top-down regulation of information processing. While suboptimal executive functions have been investigated in various groups of patients, their impact and contribution to behavioral success have not been clarified. It has been suggested that executive functions can be divided into simple executive functions, sometimes referred to as core executive functions, and more complex executive functions often involving other cognitive components referred to as higher order executive functions. Several cohorts of healthy individuals (in total 324 individuals) were investigated in five separate studies (Study I-V) to better understand how higher order executive functions are associated with successful human behavior. Due to its similarity to evolutionary conserved behaviors that depend on well-developed executive functions, including cognitive flexibility and creative fluency, and as well as due to its global impact, soccer was chosen for the three first studies. Soccer is practiced in a strictly controlled area with clear and common rules all around the world. It involves fast problem solving with the aim to reach the same goal in different ways. Soccer is also played by individuals of both sexes of widely different ages and has a shared understanding of how success is defined by both professionals and the audience. Soccer is therefore a good research arena to better understand how executive functions impact human behavior in constantly changing environments where individuals act as free agents but with a common goal and specific restrictions. Study I suggested that elite soccer players show significantly higher executive functions capacity than players on semi-elite level as well as compared to norms of the test. This result was conceptually repeated in Study III, in which national team players were compared with elite players from the same soccer clubs that had never been selected to play in national teams. The difference was especially evident when studying cognitive flexibility and creative fluency using the Design Fluency Test suggesting a better capacity for behavior adjustment. Moreover, this executive functions capacity was related to the number of scored goals and/or made assists under a prolonged measured period. Finally, cognitive flexibility correlated significantly on a moderate level with coach-rated game intelligence, i.e. the players’ ability to “read the game”, to anticipate the intentions of the opposite player and use that information to make successful decisions and actions. The main results from Study I and III were also shown for junior academy players, age range twelve to nineteen years, in Study II. Working memory (a core executive functions) had the most prominent role, suggesting a relation of the results to the maturation of the brain. Both core and higher order EF, but not IQ-measurements, significantly correlated on a moderate level with the number of scored goals the players made during two sessions. The next step was to assess the involvement of higher order executive functions in other nonsport situations where similar cognitive functions also may have a decisive role for success. Study IV showed that applicants for the Swedish counterterror intervention unit (Nationella Insatsstyrkan) had significantly better results in Design Fluency Test compared to average of the population and to police officer trainees mirroring the difference in level of play in soccer. Moreover, following the baseline tests, the applicants were re-tested after significant physical and psychological stress. The results showed that their re-test results declined compared to the expected result. However, there was still a significant correlation between the baseline results and the re-test results, indicating that higher capacity of executive functions could work as a resilience factor and safeguard adequate decision-making under stress. Finally, in Study V, different occupations in a medium sized company including forklift operators, sellers, operational and strategic managers were studied. The results showed that the capacity of cognitive flexibility and fluent creativity (both on a perceptual and a verbal level) correlated negatively with the amount of sick leave for the previous five years. The results remained after controlling for age, work group, sex, and other different cognitive components. Since we adjusted for work group, education and socio-economic factors, these did likely not explain the results. All together this thesis suggests that higher order of executive functions are important factors for success in several human behaviors and occupations. The results may need independent replication but this research project offers novel insights into how EF capacity is associated with behavioral success and that executive functions may represent a resilience factor to stress

De exekutiva funktionerna och målorienterat beteende hos fotbollsspelare

Studiens syfte var att med neuropsykologiska utredningsverktyg undersöka exekutiva funktioner hos allsvenska fotbollsspelare samt division 1 spelare. Även sambandet mellan spelarnas exekutiva funktioner, gjorda mål och assist undersöktes. 57 herr- och damspelare testades. Elva kliniska utredningstest användes. Resultaten visade att de allsvenska spelarna hade signifikant bättre kapacitet på vissa exekutiva funktioner än spelarna från division 1. Även de spelare som gjort flest mål och assist hade i förhållande till de som gjort minst, bättre kapacitet på flertalet exekutiva funktioner. Den förklarade variansen visade att de exekutiva funktionerna, i vissa fall, utgjorde mellan 30 % och 40 % av samtliga egenskaper som påverkar spelarnas prestationsförmåga mätt i mål och assist. Resultaten indikerar att kapaciteten av de exekutiva funktionera kan ha betydelse för fotbollspelares sportsliga framgång.The purpose of this study was to, with neuropsychological test tools, examine the executive functions among soccer players from premier league and first division. The relations between the players’ executive functions and their goals and assists were also examined. 57 male and female soccer players were tested. Eleven different clinical test tools were used. The result shows that the players from premier league had significant better capacity of their executive functions than the players from the first division. Also the players who scored most goals and did most assist had better capacity in several of their executive functions than the players that scored and assisted least. R Square showed in some cases that 30 to 40 % of the total capacity of the players’ performance in assists and goal scoring were provided by the executive functions. The result indicates that the capacity of the executive functions among soccer players could have importance for their success

Raw data for the study: Core executive functions are associated with success in young elite soccer players

csv file of raw data for the study: Core executive functions are associated with success in young elite soccer player

Executive functions predict the success of top-soccer players.

While the importance of physical abilities and motor coordination is non-contested in sport, more focus has recently been turned toward cognitive processes important for different sports. However, this line of studies has often investigated sport-specific cognitive traits, while few studies have focused on general cognitive traits. We explored if measures of general executive functions can predict the success of a soccer player. The present study used standardized neuropsychological assessment tools assessing players' general executive functions including on-line multi-processing such as creativity, response inhibition, and cognitive flexibility. In a first cross-sectional part of the study we compared the results between High Division players (HD), Lower Division players (LD) and a standardized norm group. The result shows that both HD and LD players had significantly better measures of executive functions in comparison to the norm group for both men and women. Moreover, the HD players outperformed the LD players in these tests. In the second prospective part of the study, a partial correlation test showed a significant correlation between the result from the executive test and the numbers of goals and assists the players had scored two seasons later. The results from this study strongly suggest that results in cognitive function tests predict the success of ball sport players

Data from: Core executive functions are associated with success in young elite soccer players

Physical capacity and coordination cannot alone predict success in team sports such as soccer. Instead, more focus has been directed towards the importance of cognitive abilities, and it has been suggested that executive functions (EF) are fundamentally important for success in soccer. However, executive functions are going through a steep development from adolescence to adulthood. Moreover, more complex EF involving manipulation of information (higher level EF) develop later than simple executive functions such as those linked to simple working memory capacity (Core EF). The link between EF and success in young soccer players is therefore not obvious. In the present study we investigated whether EF are associated with success in soccer in young elite soccer players. We performed tests measuring core EF (a demanding working memory task involving a variable n-back task; dWM) and higher level EF (Design Fluency test; DF). Color-Word Interference Test and Trail Making Test were performed on an exploratory level as they contain a linguistic element. The lower level EF test (dWM) was taken from CogStateSport computerized concussion testing and the higher level EF test (DF) was from Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System test battery (D-KEFS). In a group of young elite soccer players (n = 30; aged 12–19 years) we show that they perform better than the norm in both the dWM (+0.49 SD) and DF (+0.86 SD). Moreover, we could show that both dWM and DF correlate with the number of goals the players perform during the season. The effect was more prominent for dWM (r = 0.437) than for DF (r = 0.349), but strongest for a combined measurement (r = 0.550). The effect was still present when we controlled for intelligence, length and age in a partial correlation analysis. Thus, our study suggests that both core and higher level EF may predict success in soccer also in young players

Core executive functions are associated with success in young elite soccer players

<div><p>Physical capacity and coordination cannot alone predict success in team sports such as soccer. Instead, more focus has been directed towards the importance of cognitive abilities, and it has been suggested that executive functions (EF) are fundamentally important for success in soccer. However, executive functions are going through a steep development from adolescence to adulthood. Moreover, more complex EF involving manipulation of information (higher level EF) develop later than simple executive functions such as those linked to simple working memory capacity (Core EF). The link between EF and success in young soccer players is therefore not obvious. In the present study we investigated whether EF are associated with success in soccer in young elite soccer players. We performed tests measuring core EF (a demanding working memory task involving a variable n-back task; dWM) and higher level EF (Design Fluency test; DF). Color-Word Interference Test and Trail Making Test were performed on an exploratory level as they contain a linguistic element. The lower level EF test (dWM) was taken from CogStateSport computerized concussion testing and the higher level EF test (DF) was from Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System test battery (D-KEFS). In a group of young elite soccer players (n = 30; aged 12–19 years) we show that they perform better than the norm in both the dWM (+0.49 SD) and DF (+0.86 SD). Moreover, we could show that both dWM and DF correlate with the number of goals the players perform during the season. The effect was more prominent for dWM (<i>r</i> = 0.437) than for DF (<i>r</i> = 0.349), but strongest for a combined measurement (<i>r</i> = 0.550). The effect was still present when we controlled for intelligence, length and age in a partial correlation analysis. Thus, our study suggests that both core and higher level EF may predict success in soccer also in young players.</p></div

Core executive functions are associated with success in young elite soccer players - Fig 1

<p>Simple correlation tests using goals as outcome measure for (A) demanding working memory (dWM), (B) Design Fluency Total Correct (DF) and (C) composite measure of the two variables.</p

In Design Fluency (DF) the High Division (HD) players had significantly better scores than the Low Division players (LD).

<p>This difference was observed for both men and women. Note that both HD and LD players have superior scores compared with the standard population.</p