The Effects of Age, Biological Maturation and Sex on the Development of Executive Functions in Adolescents.

The development of executive functions (EF) has been widely investigated and is associated with various domains of expertise, such as academic achievement and sports performance. Multiple factors are assumed to influence the development of EF, among them biological maturation. Currently the effect of biological maturation on EF performance is largely unexplored, in contrast to other domains like physical development or sports performance. Therefore, this study aimed (a) to explore the effect of chronological age on EF performance and (b) to investigate to what extent age-related changes found in EF are affected by biological maturation on both sexes. To this end, EF performance and degree of maturity, indexed by percentage of predicted adult height (%PAH), of 90 adolescents (11-16 years old, 54% males) were measured on three occasions in a time frame of 12 months. A Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) approach was used to examine the association between chronological age and %PAH and the weighted sum scores for each EF component (i.e., inhibition, planning, working memory, shifting). All models were run separately for both sexes. The males' results indicated that EF performance improved with age and degree of maturity on all four components. Interaction effects between age and %PAH on inhibition showed that at a younger age, males with a higher %PAH had a lower chance of performing well on inhibition, whereas at later ages, males with a higher %PAH had a higher chance to have a good inhibition performance. For working memory, it seems that there is no maturity effect at a younger age, while at later ages, a disadvantage for later maturing peers compared to on-time and earlier maturing male adolescents emerged. Females showed slightly different results. Here, age positively influenced EF performance, whereas maturity only influenced inhibition. Interaction effects emerged for working memory only, with opposite results from the males. At younger ages, females with lower %PAH values seem to be scoring higher, whereas at later ages, no maturity effect is observed. This study is one of the first to investigate the effect of biological maturation on EF performance, and shows that distinct components of EF are influenced by maturational status, although the effects are different in both sexes. Further research is warranted to unravel the implications for maturation-driven effects on EF that might significantly affect domains of human functioning like academic achievement and social development.

Visual Cognition and Experience Mediate the Relation between Age and Decision Making in Youth Volleyball Players.

SIGNIFICANCE: Experts in different sports show superior decision-making skills compared with novices, but little is known about its development in youth players. This study shows that the age-related improvements in visual cognition and accumulation of sport-specific experience explain a considerable amount of the development in decision making in volleyball. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate the mediating effects of visual cognition and volleyball experience on the relationship between age and decision making in youth volleyball players. METHODS: A total of 171 female volleyball players aged 6 to 17 years performed a sport-specific, video-based test of decision making, as well as four different visual cognition tests. Using structural equation modeling, we examined if volleyball experience and a latent variable constructed from the four tests of visual cognition act as parallel mediators in the association between age and decision making. RESULTS: The parallel multiple mediation model for the association between age and decision making was supported in youth volleyball players. Moreover, significant indirect effects and a nonsignificant direct effect indicated that visual cognition and experience fully mediated the relation between age and decision making and together explain 38% of the variance in decision-making performance. The effects of both mediators were not significantly different, and there was no residual correlation between experience and visual cognition, which indicates that these mediators are unrelated to each other. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate that visual cognition and volleyball experience mediate the relation between age and decision making independently, which indicates that they each influence different parts of the decision-making process. These results highlight the importance of the development of perceptual-cognitive skill in young players, and future research should further investigate the development of these skills as well as their underlying factors in different kinds of sports.

Children Involved in Team Sports Show Superior Executive Function Compared to Their Peers Involved in Self-Paced Sports.

Children's motor and cognitive functions develop rapidly during childhood. Physical activity and executive function are intricately linked during this important developmental period, with physical activity interventions consistently proving to benefit children's executive function. However, it is less clear which type of physical activity shows the strongest associations with executive function in children. Therefore, this study compared executive function performance of children aged 8 to 12 that either participated in team sports or self-paced sports or were not involved in any kind of organized sports (non-athletes). Results demonstrate that children participating in team sports show superior executive function compared to children participating in self-paced sports and non-athletes. Importantly, children participating in self-paced sports do not outperform non-athletes when it comes to executive function. This study is the first to show that even at a very young age, team sports athletes outperform athletes from self-paced sports as well as non-athletes on a multifaceted and comprehensive test battery for executive function. Furthermore, our findings support the hypothesis that cognitively engaging physical activity, such as participation in team sports, might show stronger associations with executive functioning compared to other types of sports and physical activity.

The development of perceptual-cognitive skills in youth volleyball players.

In many sports, elite players outperform novices on tests for perceptual-cognitive skills, such as anticipation, decision-making and pattern recall. However, the developmental trajectory of these perceptual-cognitive skills has received limited attention. Therefore, this study examined the development of anticipation, decision-making and pattern recall in 202 female volleyball players aged between 7 and 26 years old. Participants were categorized into six age groups: U9, U11, U13, U15, U17 and Seniors. Using a video-based occlusion protocol, we assessed participants' ability to predict pass direction, decide the most optimal attack zone, or recall the opponents' defence positions. The results demonstrated that U17 and adult players had superior accuracy and shorter response times than younger players on all three tests. Notably, U9 players performed worse than older players on all tests. Binomial distributions showed that decision-making was above chance for U17 players and adults, whereas anticipation was above chance for almost all players. Our findings indicate that age-related improvements of perceptual-cognitive skills are evident at 11 years old. However, decision-making seems to develop considerably later than anticipation and pattern recall, suggesting different developmental trajectories for the different perceptual-cognitive skills. Longitudinal research regarding the development of perceptual-cognitive skills and their underlying mechanisms is warranted, as this could have important implications for talent detection and development.