INTRODUCTION

From a cognitive-psychological perspective, physical exercise and sports are an interesting tool for improving people’s cognitive abilities [1]. Cognitive functions are defined as a person's ability to participate in, recognize and plan responses to both external and internal stimuli. They also include executive functions, which mean the ability to plan and schedule an activity, focus on task-related information, and perform multiple activities simultaneously. Core executive functions include inhibition response and interference control, working memory and cognitive flexibility [2-4].

The basic cognitive functions that research in sport area focuses on include mostly attention and its selected functional attributes (such an intentionality, selectivity, concentration), memory and cognitive pace (speed of stimulus processing, speed of response) [5]. Currently, several benefits of sport activity in relation to cognitive functions are known. It can stop decreasing the level of cognitive functions or improve them, because physical excercise is a protective factor for neurodegeneration [6]. Also, physical activity can be an appropriate tool for improving cognitive and executive functions [7]. We may categorized sports into two types – open skill and closed skill sports [8]. In open skill sport disciplines athletes are required to react in a dynamically changing, unpredictable and externally-paced environment (e.g., basketball, tennis, football and etc). Those sport disciplines may develop some cognitive function, specifically visual attention, decision making or action execution. On the other hand, closed skill sport disciplines are relatively highly consistent, predictable, and self-paced for athletes (e.g., running, swimming) [9-11].

The role of aerobic sport activities (such a cycling, swimming, running or some other sport disciplines like this) in area of improving cognitive function is also often discussed. For example, according authors [8], aerobic exercise training is related with higher level of some cognitive function as well, namely it is associated with modest improvements in attention, processing speed and executive function. Also, many crosssectional and longitudinal intervention studies have shown a relationship between a sports activity and cognitive functions [13-15].

Due to this mentioned diversity of open skill sports and closed skill sports in the area of cognitive functions, we can assume, that they set different demands on the involvement of cognitive functions. Some team sports (e.g. volleyball, basketball or football) may be consider as an open skill sports, The reason why is that playing well in these kinds of sport disciplines means choosing the right course of action at the right moment and performing that course of action efficiently and consistently throughout the match. Due to continuously changing conditions, goal-directed behaviours need to be repeatedly adjusted and corrected. So executive functions are crucial for the athletes’ success. One of the most important executive functions is the ability to continuously switch between two different tasks being required in a random sequence. Those abilities are even more essential in open skill sport disciplines [16-19].

In team sport games, anticipation, perception and the decision to solve the game situation as well as the number of hours devoted to specific sport disciplines exercises in childhood are a strong predictor of success [20,21]. That is why those sports are defined as an open skill sport disciplines.This finding is also confirmed by the fact that perceptual abilities improvement is based on experience [22] and perceptual-cognitive training approach may be useful as an integral component of athletic training [23]. This implies that, this ability can be trainable under the appropriate conditions and situations. Moreover, this finding was confirmed by research [24] also, which showed that elite athletes have higher level of cognitive performance than sub-elite athletes or novice manifested in sport specific situations.

Similarly, according the study of Heppe et al [25], elite athletes engaged in different team sports performed better in sustained attention tests, compared to recreational athletes. Those findings point to the fact that the level of sport activity is also an important aspect in the cognitive function area.

In this context, we can see wide potential of physical activity in area of cognitive functions – namely it may support cognitive functions of children, adults as well as individuals with disabilities [26]. Except the field of sport activity, the processes of attentional control and executive function are critical for operating efficiently in everyday life as well. Deficits in these core processes have serious consequences [27].

Considering the benefits of team sport disciplines in the field of cognitive function, we assume that athletes engaging in those sport disciplines demonstrate an elevated level of monitored cognitive function in compare to individual sport athletes and nonathletes as well. At the same, with respect to the benefits of sport activity in general, we assume that athletes engaging in individual sport disciplines demonstrate an increased level of monitored cognitive function in compare to nonathletes.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

RESULTS

Our results showed a significant differences between all monitored groups [H(2)=5.97, p=0.05]. Data analyses showed, that the highest level of cognitive function is registered in the group of female open skill sport athletes, on the contrary, the lowest level of cognitive function we noticed in the group of nonathletes. Paired analysis found a difference significant at 5% level of significance between

female open skill sport athletes and nonathletes (U=230.50; p=0.02; r=0.30). Open skill sport athletes dispose with a level of cognitive function corresponding to 126.21±24.83 points, while nonathletes 107.82±26.88 points. It also does not exist a difference in the level of cognitive functions between closed skill sport athletes and nonathletes (U=497.00; p=0.89; r=0.02). Closed skill sport athletes dispose with a level of cognitive functions corresponding to 110.23±19.28 points. It means, that female athletes generally (regardless of engaging to the open skill sport or closed skill sport disciplines) do not dispose with higher level of cognitive function in compare to female nonathletes.

We also looked at the difference between groups of athletes – closed skill sport disciplines and open skill sport disciplines. Our results showed, that it does exist a difference between those groups – at 5% level of statistical significance (U=159.00; p=0.04; r=0.30).

DISCUSSION

The aim of this research was to determine the level of chosen cognitive function of female in late adolescence. Our study has shown a higher level of monitored cognitive function among athletes engaged in open skill sport disciplines compared to athletes of closed skill sport disciplines and nonathletes as well. So it may turns out that open skill sport disciplines (team sport games) have some potencial to increase the level of congnitive function of woman. At the same time, according our results, closed skill sport disciplines do not increase the level of chosen cognitive function of young woman.

Some authors categorize cognitive functions into a subgroup called executive function and point to a close connection between these two terms. For example, according the authors Friedman et al. [30] we can say that recent psychological and neuropsychological research suggests that executive functions are the cognitive control processes and they are multifaceted. The different types of executive functions are correlated but separable. Executive functions are generally used as a term to describe the cognitive processes that regulate thought and action, especially in nonroutine situations [30]. And just athletes engaged in open skill sport disciplines are faceing these situations very often and they must be prepare to solve unexpected, fast and nonroutine moments in the match.

As mentioned above, the executive functions are thus important in order to capture and discriminate among information in decision-making, especially during time constraints. In open skill sportslike football, basketball or voleyball, there are large amounts of information for the athletes to consider in every new moment. The successful player must constantly assess the situation, compare it to past experiences, create new possibilities, make quick decisions to action, but also quickly inhibit planned decisions [31]. This may explain that open skill sport athletes performed better in cognitive tasks than closed skill sport athletes in the study of authors Voss et all [10]. We have also found higher level of cognitive function in open skill sport athletes in compare to closed skill sport athletes.

But there is also evidence that athletes of open skill sport disciplines do not dispose with higher level of cognitive functions. According to the study of authors Memmert, Simons and Grimme [32], team sport athletes did not perform better in any of attention tasks in compare to non-team sport athletes, both on expert level of sporting.

Also, research of Vestberg et al. [31] shows that general executive functions are important in sport game and can even predict a future success in sport game players. Authors have reealized cross-sectional test on executive and they have found that the open skill sports athletes (football players) in the high division had significant better results than open skill sport athletes (football players) in the lower division. Moreover, both groups of athletes dispose with higher level of executive functions than the general population.This finding is linked with another result in our study,namely,open skill sport athletes have a higher level of cognitive functions than nonathletes.

On the other hand, from the point of view of assessing the level of cognitive or executive functions regarding the level of sport activity, the research results vary. According to studies [14, 33], there are any differences in simple cognitive processes such as reaction time or basic attentional tasks between elite and semi-elite team sport athletes (specifically football players).

The results of the study of authors Krenn et al. [34] say about the importance of executive functions in elite sports and, at the same, they demonstrate that athletes vary in executive functions regarding their individual sports. These results also suggest that the development of executive functions might be favored by the deliberate practice of strategic sports, and/or that executive functions may play a more important role in strategic sport disciplines. In the present, we can assume that sport activity has potential to improve cognitive functioning and change structural and functional aspects of the human brain [35-37]. Results of the research realised by authors Alesi et al. [13] have found that team sport activity can help to increase the level of executive functions. According to this study there were significant differences between group of athletes and sedentary group in executive functions after the football exercise program. The team sport athletes (football players group) at post-test showed significantly larger gains than the sedentary group on measures of agility, visuo-spatial working memory, attention, planning and inhibition.

However, our research has not confirmed our assumption that individual sport disciplines athletes will dispose with a higher level of cognitive functions than nonathletes. Thus, this finding is not consistent with findings of Martin et al. [7]. According these authors is physical activity (as a only intervention) a good tool for improving cognitive, executive function. We can explain this by finding of Best [38], that says that executive functions have been found to be more sensitive to physical activity than other types of cognitive functions. Also results of the study of Jacobson and Matthaeus [39] have showed that athletes outperform nonathletes on tests of such executive functions domains as inhibition and problem solving. Moreover, authors say that different types of athletic experience may correlate with higher levels of particular executive functions domains. Our findings are consistent with the results of this study only when compared the difference in the level of cognitive function of open skill sport athletes and nonathletes.

Despite this study’s interesting findings in the area of cognitive functions on the difference between athletes engaged in open skill sport disciplines, athletes engaged in individual sport disciplines and nonathletes, it has several limitations that should be acknowledged. Firstly, the size of the research group of athletes and nonathletes of our research was relatively small. These findings may reveal the extent to which a specific sports activity such as open skill sport disciplines can influence cognitive functions.

Regardless of the research limitations, we can say that young female athletes participating in open skill sport disciplines have higher level of cognitive functions in comparison to young female athletes engaged in individul sport disciplines and young females who do not participate in any sports activity.

CONCLUSION

Our study confirmed the knowledge of different involvement of cognitive functions in different types of sport disciplines, and consequently a higher level of cognitive functions of women engaged in open skill sport disciplines, in compare to women engaged in individual sport disciplines and female nonathletes as well. However, we could not prove the higher level of monitored cognitive function of female engaged in individual sport disciplinescompared to females not engaged in any sport activity.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This study was supported by VEGA Grant No.: 1/0409/19.